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GENERAL LAND OFFICE 

CIRCULAR No. 187 


UNITED STATES MINING LAWS 

r* 

AND REGULATIONS THEREUNDER 


APPROVED MARCH 29, 1909 

(Reprinted November 6, 1912) 

WITH PARAGRAPHS 33, 42, 44, AND 88 AS AMENDED. ALSO ADDENDA 
CONTAINING LATER ACTS AND REGULATIONS 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 














p, nr o. 

DEC 30 012 







UNITED STATES MINING LAWS, 


AND REGULATIONS THEREUNDER, RELATIVE TO THE RESERVA¬ 
TION, EXPLORATION, LOCATION, POSSESSION, PURCHASE, 

AND PATENTING OF TPIE MINERAL LANDS 
IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 


Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office. 


LAWS. 

TITLE XXXII, CHAPTER 6, REVISED 

STATUTES. 


Mineral Lands and Mining Resources. 


Sec. 2318. In all cases lands valuable for minerals 
shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly 
directed by law. 

Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands be¬ 
longing to the United States, both surveyed and unsur¬ 
veyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to ex¬ 
ploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are 
found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the 
United States and those who have declared their inten¬ 
tion to become such, under regulations prescribed by 
law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners 
in the several mining districts, so far as the same are ap¬ 
plicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United 
States. 


Mineral 
lands reserved. 

4 July, 1866, 
c. 166, s. 5, v. 
14, p. 86. 

Mineral 
lands open to 
purchase b y 
citizens. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 1, v. 
17, p. 91. 


Sec. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz Length o f 
or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, upon veins or 

tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, heretofore located, lode s :_ 

shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by c 1 2 S7 y’ 

the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of 17, p. 91. 

their location. A mining claim located after the tenth 

day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, whether 

located bv one of more persons, may equal, but shall not 

exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the 

vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be 

made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the 


( 1 ) 






2 


Proof of citi¬ 
zenship. 


10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 7, v. 
17, p. 94. 


Locators’ 
rights of pos¬ 
session and en¬ 
joyment. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 3, v. 
17, p. 91. 


Owners of 
tunnels, rights 
of._ 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 4, v. 
17, p. 92. 


limits of the claim located. Xo claim shall extend more 
than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the 
vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any 
mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each 
side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where 
adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen 
hundred and seventy-two, render such limitation neces¬ 
sary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to 
each other. 

Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this chapter, 
may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affi¬ 
davit thereof; in the case of an association of persons 
unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, 
made on his own knowledge or upon information and be¬ 
lief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the 
laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory 
thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter 
or certificate of incorporation. 

Sec. 2322. The locators of all mining locations hereto¬ 
fore made or which shall hereafter be made, on any min- 
eral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, 
their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim exists on 
the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, 
so long as they comply with the laws of the United 
States, and with State, Territorial, and local regulations 
not in conflict with the laws of the United States govern¬ 
ing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right 
of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included 
within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, 
and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex 
of which lies inside of such surface lines extended down¬ 
ward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may 
so far depart from a perpendicular in their course down¬ 
ward as to extend outside the vertical side lines of such 
surface locations. But their right of possession to such 
outside parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to 
such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn 
downward as above described, through the end lines of 
their locations, so continued in their own direction that 
such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such 
veins or ledges. And nothing in this section shall au¬ 
thorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which 
extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines 
of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or 
possessed by another. 

Sec. 2323. Where a tunnel is run for the development 
of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the own¬ 
ers of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all 
veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of 
such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to 
exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if 
discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of 
such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the sur¬ 
face, made by other parties after the commencement of 





3 


the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with 
reasonable diligence, shall be invalid, but failure to prose¬ 
cute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be con¬ 
sidered as an abandonment of the right to all undiscov¬ 
ered veins on the line of such tunnel. 

Sec. 2324. The miners of each mining district may Regulations 
make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the “s de l)J min * 
United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory 10 May> 1872> 
in which the district is situated, governing the location, c. i52,^s’. 5, v! 
manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold ’ p * 
possession of a mining claim, subject to the following 
requirements: The location must be distinctly marked 
on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced. 

All records of mining claims hereafter made shall con¬ 
tain the name or names of the locators, the date of the 
location, and such a description of the claim or claims 
located by reference to some natural object or perma¬ 
nent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim 
located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued there¬ 
for, not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor 
shall be performed or improvements made during each 
year. On all claims located prior to the tenth day of May, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars’ worth of 
labor shall be performed or improvements made by the 
tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, 
and each year thereafter, for each one hundred feet in 
length along the vein until a patent has been issued there¬ 
for; but where such claims are held in common, such 
expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon 
a failure to comply with these conditions the claim or 
mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to 
relocation in the same manner as if no location of the 
same had ever been made, provided that the original 
locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, 
have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and 
before such location. Upon the failure of any one of 
several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the 
expenditures required hereby, the co-owners who have 
performed the labor or made the improvements may, at 
the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner 
personal notice in writing or notice by publication in 
the newspaper published nearest the claim for at least 
once a week for ninety days, and if at the expiration of 
ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication 
such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his 
proportion of the expenditure required by this section his 
interest in the claim shall become the property of his 
co-owners who have made the required expenditures. 

Sec. 2325. A patent for any land claimed and located .Patents for 
for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following how obtained. 8 ’ 
manner: Any person, association, or corporation author- 10 May. 1 S 7 
ized to locate a claim under this chapter, having claimed J- 7 152, 9 o 6 ’ 
and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has, 


<j to 




4 


Adverse 
claim, proceed¬ 
ings on. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 7, y. 
17, p. 93. 


or have, complied with the terms of this chapter, may 
file in the proper land office an application for a patent, 
under oath, showing such compliance, together with a plat 
and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by 
or under the direction of the United States surveyor-gen¬ 
eral, showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or 
claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on 
the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together 
with a notice of such application for a patent, in a con¬ 
spicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous 
to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file 
an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has 
been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the notice in such 
land office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for 
the land, in the manner following: The register of the 
land office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field 
notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that 
such application has been made, for the period of sixty 
days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published 
nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in 
his office for the same period. The claimant at the time 
of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within 
the sixty days of publication, shall file with the register 
a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that 
five hundred dollars’ worth of labor has been expended 
or iinjDrovements made upon the claim by himself or 
grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further 
description by such reference to natural objects or perma¬ 
nent monuments as shall identifv the claim, and furnish 
an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent. 
At the expiration of the sixty days of publication the 
claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and 
notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the 
claim during such period of publication. If no adverse 
claim shall have been filed with the register and the 
receiver of the proper land office at the expiration of the 
sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the 
applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the 
proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse 
claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third par¬ 
ties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it 
be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the 
terms of this chapter. 

Sec. 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed during the 
period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person 
or persons making the same, and shall show the nature, 
boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all pro¬ 
ceedings, except the publication of notice and making and 
filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the 
controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court 
of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. 
It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty 
days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a 
court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question 



5 


of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with 
reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure so to 
do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such 
judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to 
the possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, 
without giving further notice, file a certified copy of the 
judgment-roll with the register of the land office, together 
with the certificate of the surveyor-general that the requi¬ 
site amount of labor has been expended or improvements 
made thereon, and the description required in other cases, 
and shall pay to the receiver five dollars per acre for his 
claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole 
proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the 
register to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such por¬ 
tion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the deci¬ 
sion of the court, to rightly possess. If it appears from 
the decision of the court that several parties are entitled 
to separate and different portions of the claim, each party 
may pay for his portion of the claim with the proper fees, 
and file the certificate and description by the surveyor- 
general, whereupon the register shall certify the proceed¬ 
ings and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of the Gen¬ 
eral Land Office, as in the preceding case, and patents 
shall issue to the several parties according to their respec¬ 
tive rights. Nothing herein contained shall be construed 
to prevent the alienation of a title conveyed by a patent 
for a mining claim to any person whatever. 

Sec. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims upon 
surveyed lands shall designate the location of the claims 
with reference to the lines of the public survey, but need 
not conform therewith; but where patents have been or 
shall be issued for claims upon unsurveved lands, the 
surveyors-general, in extending the public survey, shall 
adjust the same to the boundaries of said patented claims 
so as in no case to interfere with or change the true loca¬ 
tion of such claims as they are officially established upon 
the ground. Where patents have issued for mineral 
lands, those lands only shall be segregated and shall be 
deemed to be patented which are bounded by the lines 
actually marked, defined, and established upon the 
ground bv the monuments of the official survey upon 
which the patent grant is based, and surveyors-general in 
executing subsequent patent surveys, whether upon sur¬ 
veyed or unsurveved lands, shall be governed accord¬ 
ingly. The said monuments shall at all times constitute 
the highest authority as to what land is patented, and in 
case of any conflict between the said monuments of such 
patented claims and the descriptions of said claims in 
the patents issued therefor the monuments on the ground 
shall govern, and erroneous or inconsistent descriptions 
or calls in the patent descriptions shall give way thereto. 


Description 
of mining vein 
or lode claims. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 8, v. 
17, p. 94. 

Amended 
Apr. 28, 1904 
(33 Stat., 545). 


Patents t o 
conform to 
official monu¬ 
ments. 


Monum en ts 
to govern de¬ 
scriptions. 



6 


Tending ap¬ 
plications ; ex¬ 
isting rights. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 9, v. 
17, p. 94. 


Conform ity 
of placer 
claims to sur¬ 
veys, limit of. 

9 .Tuly, 1870, 
c. 235, s. 12, v. 
16, p. 217. 


Subdivisions 
of ten-acre 
tracts; maxi¬ 
mum of placer 
locations. 

9 .Tilly, 1870, 
c. 235, s. 12, v. 
16, p. 217. 


Conform ity 
of placer 
claims to sur¬ 
veys, limita¬ 
tion of claims. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 10, v. 
17, p. 94. 


What evi¬ 
dence of posses- 
sion, &c., to 
establish a 
right to a pat¬ 
ent. 

9 .Tilly, 1870, 
c. 235, s. 13, 
v. 16, p. 217. 


Sec. 2328. Applications for patents for mining claims 
under former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a 
final decision in the General Land-Office; but in such 
cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, pat¬ 
ents may issue in pursuance of the provisions of this 
chapter; and all patents for mining claims upon veins 
or lodes heretofore issued shall convey all the rights and 
privileges conferred by this chapter where no adverse 
rights existed on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-two. 

Sec. 2329. Claims usually called “ placers,” including 
all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other 
rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under 
like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar pro¬ 
ceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but 
where the lands have been previously surveyed by the 
United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall con¬ 
form to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. 

Sec. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be 
subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, 
or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of 
any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres 
each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a 
placer claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen 
hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty 
acres for any one person or association of persons, w T hich 
location shall conform to the United States surveys; and 
nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair 
any bona fide preemption or homestead claim upon agri¬ 
cultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements 
of any bona fide settler to any purchaser. 

Sec. 2331. Where placer claims are upon surveyed 
lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further sur¬ 
vey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims 
located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, shall conform as near as practicable with the 
United States system of public-land surveys, and the 
rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such 
location shall include more than twenty acres for each 
individual claimant; but where placer claims can not be 
conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall 
be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the seg¬ 
regation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a 
quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres re¬ 
mains, such fractional portion of agricultural land may 
be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead 
or preemption purposes. 

Sec. 2332. Where such person or association, they and 
their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a 
period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of lim¬ 
itations for mining claims of the State or Territory 
where the same may be situated, evidence of such posses¬ 
sion and working of the claims for such period shall be 
sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this 







7 


chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing 
in this chapter shall he deemed to impair any lien which 
may have attached in any way whatever to any mining 
claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance 
of a patent. 

Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association, or cor¬ 
poration is in possession of a placer claim, and also a vein 
or lode included within the boundaries thereof, applica¬ 
tion shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with 
the statement that it includes such veip or lode, and in 
such case a patent shall issue for the placer claim, subject 
to the provisions of this chapter, including such vein or 
lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such 
vein or lode claim and twenty-five feet of surface on each 
side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim or any 
placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim shall 
be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per 
acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a 
vein or lode, such as is described in section twenty-three 
hundred and twenty, is known to exist within the boun¬ 
daries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for 
such placer claim which does not include an application 
for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a con¬ 
clusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim 
has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but 
where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is 
not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all 
valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries 
thereof. 

Sec. 2334. The surveyor-general of the United States 
may appoint in each land district containing mineral 
lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for 
appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of 
the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and sub¬ 
division of placer claims into smaller quantities than one 
hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publi¬ 
cation of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they 
shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reason¬ 
able rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any 
United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The 
Commissioner of the General Land Office shall also have 
power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and 
publication of notices under this chapter; and, in case of 
excessive charges for publication, he may designate any 
newspaper published in a land district where mines are 
situated for the publication of mining notices in such dis¬ 
trict, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, 
to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed 
on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a 
sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such 
applicant for publication and surveys, together with all 
fees and money paid the register and the receiver of the 
land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the 


Proceedings 
for patent for 
placer claim, 
&c. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 11, v. 
17, p. 94. 


Surveyor- 
general to ap¬ 
point survey¬ 
ors of mining 
claims, &c. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 12, v. 
17, p. 95. 




8 


of 

&c. 


Where veins 
intersect, &c. 


other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the Gen¬ 
eral Land Office. 

Verification g EC> 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this 
a davi s, c hapt er may be verified before any officer authorized to 
10 May 1872 administer oaths within the land district where the claims 
C. 152, S 13, v! may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be 
i<, p. Jo. taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by 
the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and 
effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the 
land office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agri¬ 
cultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may 
be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least 
ten days to the opposing party; or if such party can not 
be found, then by publication of at least once a week for 
thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the regis¬ 
ter of the land office as published nearest to the location 
of such land; and the register shall require proof that 
such notice has been given. 

Sec. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect or cross 
each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior 
c. if,' 'v! location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained 

17 , p. 96. within the space of intersection; but the subsequent loca¬ 
tion shall have the right of way through the space of 
intersection for the purposes of the convenient working 
of the mine. And where two or more veins unite, the old¬ 
est or prior location shall take the vein below the point of 
union, including all the space of intersection. 

Patents for g EC . 2337. Where nonmineral land not contiguous to 
lands, &c. the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor 
io May, 1872, of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such 
c^ 152 ^ !5, v. nonadjacen t surface ground may be embraced and in¬ 
cluded in an application for a patent for such vein or 
lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to 
the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice 
as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location here¬ 
after made of such nonadjacent land shall exceed five 
acres, and payment for the same must be made at the 
same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies of the 
lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not 
owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive 
a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section. 

Sec. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence of 
may* be" made necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of 
iatur°e Cal legls 'any State or Territory may provide rules for working 
°o Tniv 1866 " m i nes > involving easements, drainage, and other necessary 
c." 262 , V. 5, v! means to their complete development : and those condi- 
vested rights tions shall be fully expressed in the patent, 
to use of water Sec. 2339. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights 
r?ght m of g ’ way t<o the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufac- 


What condi¬ 
tions of sale 


for can als. hiring, or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and 
26 July, 1866, the same are recognized and acknowledged bv the local 
14 ,“ p . 253 .' ’ customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors 







9 


and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and 
protected in the same; and the right of way for the con¬ 
struction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein 
specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever 
any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, in¬ 
jures or damages the possession of any settler on the public 
domain, the party committing such injury or damage 
shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or 
damage. 

Sec. 2340. All patents granted, or preemption or home- em ptio£s S ’ Snd 
steads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued h o m estead s 
water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in |d b and accrued 
connection with such water rights, as may have been water rights. 
acquired under or recognized by the preceding section. 9 July, 1870, 

C. S. -1- ( y V• 

16, p. 218. 


Sec. 2341. Wherever, upon the lands heretofore desig¬ 
nated as mineral lands, which have been excluded from 
survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citi¬ 
zens of the United States, or persons who have declared 
their intention to become citizens, which homesteads have 
been made, improved, and used for agricultural purposes, 
and upon which there have been no valuable mines of 
gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are 
properly agricultural lands, the settlers or owners of such 
homesteads shall have a right of preemption thereto, and 
shall be entitled to purchase the same at the price of one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and in quantity not 
to exceed one hundred and sixty acres; or they may avail 
themselves of the provisions of chapter five of this Title, 
relating to “ Homesteads.” 

Sec. 2342. Upon the survey of the lands described in 
the preceding section, the Secretary of the Interior may 
designate and set apart such portions of the same as are 
clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be 
subject to preemption and sale as other public lands, and 
be subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the 


Mineral 
lands in which 
no valuable 
mines are dis¬ 
covered open 
to homesteads. 

26 July, 1866, 
c. 262, s. 10, v. 
14, p. 253, 


Mineral 
lands, how set 
apart as agri¬ 
cultural lands. 

26 July, 1866, 
c. 262, s. 11, v. 
14, p. 253. 


same. 


Sec. 2343. The President is authorized to establish ad¬ 
ditional land districts, and to appoint the necessary offi¬ 
cers under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same 
necessary for the public convenience in executing the pro¬ 
visions of this chapter. 

Sec. 2344. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be 
construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in 
mining property acquired under existing laws; nor to 
affect the provisions of the act entitled “ An act granting 
to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid 
in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel 
to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada,” approved 
July twenty-five, eighteen hundred tfnd sixty-six. 


A d d i tional 
land districts 
and officers, 
power of the 
President t o 
provide. 

26 July, 1866, 
c. 262, s. 7, v. 
14, p. 252. 

Provisions of 
this chapter 
not to affect 
certain rights. 

10 May, 1872, 
c. 152, s. 16, v. 
17, p. 96. 

9 July, 1870, 
c. 235, s. 17, v. 

16, p. 218. 







10 


Mineral 
lands in cer¬ 
tain States ex¬ 
cepted. 

18 Feb., 1878, 
c. 159, y. 17, 
p. 465. 


Grant of 
lands to States 
or corporations 
not to include 
mineral lands. 

30 .Tan., 1865, 
Res. No. 10, v. 
13, p. 567. 


Sec. 2345. The provisions of the preceding sections of 
this chapter shall not apply to the mineral lands situated 
in the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, 
which are declared free and open to exploration and pur¬ 
chase, according to legal subdivisions, in like manner as 
before the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two. And any bona tide entries of such lands 
within the States named since the tenth day of May, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-two, may be patented with¬ 
out reference to any of the foregoing provisions of this 
chapter. Such lands shall be offered for public sale in the 
same manner, at the same minimum price, and under the 
same rights of preemption as other public lands. 

Sec. 2346. No act passed at the first session of the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, granting lands to States or cor¬ 
porations to aid in the construction of roads or for other 
purposes, or to extend the time of grants made prior to 
the thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
five, shall be so construed as to embrace mineral lands, 
which in all cases are reserved exclusively to the United 
States, unless otherwise specially provided in the act or 
acts making the grant. 


ACTS OF CONGRESS PASSED SUBSEQUENT 
TO THE REVISED STATUTES. 


AN ACT To amend the act entitled “An act to promote the develop¬ 
ment of the mining resources of the United States,” passed May 
tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

Claim Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Reyresenta- 
May io, n 1872° tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
expenditure ex- bled, That the provisions of the fifth section of the act 
tended t° dan. entitled “An act to promote the development of the min- 

Act of ~ co n~i n ^ resources th e United States,” passed May tenth, 
press approved eighteen hundred and seventy-two, which requires ex- 
as 6 stat. 18 L^ penditures of labor and improvements on claims located 
G1 >- ’ prior to the passage of said act, are herebjr so amended 

that the time for the first annual expenditure on claims 
located prior to the passage of said act shall be extended 
to the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
five. 

AN ACT To amend section two thousand three hundred and twenty- 
four of the Revised Statutes, relating to the development of the 
mining resources of the United States. 

veiled e in ex a ^ enacted by the Senate and House of Reyresenta- 
tunnei consid- fives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
ed" on'the P iode. bled , That section two thousand three hundred and 

Act of Con- twenty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is 
le e bruar p y pr0 1U here by, amended so that where a person or company has 
1875 (is stafior may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode 
or lodes, owned by said person or company, the money so 






11 


expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered as 
expended on said lode or lodes, whether located prior to 
or since the passage of said act; and such person or com¬ 
pany shall not be required to perform work on the surface 
of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same as required 
by said act. 


AN ACT To exclude the States of Missouri and Kansas from the pro¬ 
visions of the act of Congress entitled “An act to promote the de¬ 
velopment of the mining resources of the United States,” approved 
May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That within the States of Missouri and Kansas de¬ 
posits of coal, iron, lead, or other mineral be, and they are 
hereby, excluded from the operation of the act entitled 
“An act to promote the development of the mining re¬ 
sources of the United States,” approved May tenth, eight¬ 
een hundred and seventy-two, and all lands in said States 
shall be subject to disposal as agricultural lands. 


Missouri and 
Kansas exclud¬ 
ed from the op¬ 
eration of the 
mineral laws. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
May 5, 1876 

(19 Stat. L., 
52). 


AN ACT Authorizing the citizens of Colorado, Nevada, and the Terri¬ 
tories to fell and remove timber on the public domain for mining 

and domestic purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That all citizens of the United States and other 
persons, bona fide residents of the State of Colorado, or 
Nevada, or either of the Territories of New T Mexico, 
Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, or Montana, 
and all other mineral districts of the United States, shall 
be, and are hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and 
remove, for building, agricultural, mining, or other do¬ 
mestic purposes, any timber or other trees growing or 
being on the public lands, said lands being mineral, and 
not subject to entry under existing laws of the United 
States, except for mineral entry, in either of said States, 
Territories, or districts of which such citizens or persons 
may be at the time bona fide residents, subject to such 
rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may 
prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the un¬ 
dergrowth growing upon such lands, and for other pur¬ 
poses: Provided, The provisions of this act shall not ex¬ 
tend to railroad corporations. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the register and the 
receiver of any local land office in whose district any 
mineral land may be situated to ascertain from time to 
time whether any timber is being cut or used upon any 
such lands, except for the purposes authorized by this act, 
within their respective land districts; and, if so, they 
shall immediately notify the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office of that fact; and all necessary expenses in¬ 
curred in making such proper examinations shall be paid 


Citizens o f 
Colorado, Ne¬ 
vada, and the 
Territories au¬ 
thorized to fell 
and remove 
timber on the 
public domain 
for mining and 
domestic pur¬ 
poses. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
June 3, 1878 
(20 Stat. L., 
88 ). 




12 


Applicati on 
for patent may 
be made by au¬ 
thorized agent. 


On unpatent¬ 
ed claims peri¬ 
od commences 
on Jan. 1 suc¬ 
ceeding date of 
location. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Jan. 22, 1880 
(21 Stat. L., 
61). 


In action 
brought title 
not established 
in either party. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Mar. 3, 1881 

(21 Stat. L., 
505). 


and allowed such register and receiver in making up their 
next quarterly accounts. 

Sec. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate the 
provisions of this act, or any rules and regulations in 
pursuance thereof made by the Secretary of the Interior, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon con¬ 
viction, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five hun¬ 
dred dollars, and to which may be added imprisonment 
for any term not exceeding six months. 


AN ACT To amend sections twenty-three hundred and twenty-four 
and twenty-three hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes of 
the United States concerning mineral lands. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That section twenty-three hundred and twenty-five 
of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended 
by adding thereto the following words: “Provided, That 
where the claimant for a patent is not a resident of or 
within the land district wherein the vein, lode, ledge, or 
deposit sought to be patented is located, the application 
for patent and the affidavits required to be made in this 
section by the claimant for such patent may be made by 
his, her, or its authorized agent, where said agent is con¬ 
versant with the facts sought to be established by said 
affidavits: And provided, That this section shall apply to 
all applications now pending for patents to mineral 
lands.” 

Sec. 2. That section twenty-three hundred and twenty- 
four of the Revised Statutes of the United States be 
amended by adding the following words: “ Provided, 
That the period within which the work required to be 
done annually on all unpatented mineral claims shall 
commence on the first day of January succeeding the date 
of location of such claim, and this section shall apply to 
all claims located since the tenth day of May, anno 
Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-two.” 


AN ACT To amend section twenty-three hundred and twenty-six of 
the Revised Statutes relating to suits at law affecting the title to 
mining claims. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That if, in any action brought pursuant to section 
twenty-three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised 
Statutes, title to the ground in controversy shall not be 
established by either party, the jury shall so find, and 
judgment shall be entered according to the verdict. In 
such case costs shall not be allowed to either party, and 
the claimant shall not proceed in the land office or be 
entitled to a patent for the ground in controversy until 
he shall have perfected his title. 




13 


AN ACT To amend section twenty-three hundred and twenty-six 
of the Revised Statutes in regard to mineral lands, and for other 
purposes. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- ra a dv peYeriYed 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- ''agent 611 e 
bled , That the adverse claim required by section twenty- sec. 1, act of 
three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes may r nYve'i e Apr le>' 
be verified by the oath of any duly authorized agent or 1882 (22 stati 
attorney in fact of the adverse claimant cognizant of the Lm 49) ’ 
facts stated; and the adverse claimant, if residing or at 
the time being beyond the limits of the district wherein 
the claim is situated, may make oath to the adverse claim 
before the clerk of any court of record of the United 
States or the State or Territory where the adverse claim¬ 
ant may then be, or before any notary public of such 
State or Territory. 

Sec. 2. That applicants for mineral patents, if residing Affidavit of 
beyond the limits of the district wherein the claim is situ- fore ‘ whom 

ated, may make any oath or affidavit required for proof made - _ 

of citizenship before the clerk of any court of record, or ( , 0 ^: es 2 ' act a ° f 
before any notary public of any State or Territory. proved Apr. 26, 

J J 1 J J 1882 (22 Stat. 

L., 49). 

AN ACT To exclude the public lands in Alabama from the operation 
of the laws relating to mineral lands. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Alabama ex- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- the e operation 
bled , That within the State of Alabama all public lands, mmeral 
whether mineral or otherwise, shall be subject to disposal —— f Co ~ 

only as agricultural lands: Provided , however , That allgress approved 
lands which have heretofore been reported to the General stat/YI! 
Land Office as containing coal and iron shall first be 487 )• 
offered at public sale: And provided further , That any 
bona fide entry under the provisions of the homestead 
law of lands within said State heretofore made may be 
patented without reference to an act approved May tenth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-two, entitled “An act to 
promote the development of the mining resources of the 
United States,” in cases where the persons making appli¬ 
cation for such patents have in all other respects com¬ 
plied with the homestead law relating thereto. 

AN ACT Providing a civil government for Alaska. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
. bled , 

$ sfs 

Sec. 8. That the said district of Alaska is hereby 
created a land district, and a United States land office for district of 

said district is hereby located at Sitka. The commis- AI - S _A- 

sioner provided for by this act to reside at Sitka shall be approved 
ex officio register of said land office, and the clerk pro-May 17, 1884 
vided for by this act shall be ex officio receiver of public 24 ). Sta< ‘ L '’ 






14 


Right of en¬ 
try under all 
the land laws 
restricted t o 
320 acres. (Re¬ 
pealed, see act 
Mar. 3, 1891, 
sec. 17). 

Reservat i o n 
in patents for 
right of way 
for ditches and 
canals con¬ 
structed. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Aug. 30, 1890 
(20 Stat. L., 
371). 


moneys, and the marshal provided for by this act shall be 
ex officio surveyor-general of said district and the laws of 
the United States relating to mining claims, and the 
rights incident thereto shall, from and after the passage 
of this act, be in full force and effect in said district, 
under the administration thereof herein provided for, 
subject to such regulations as may be made by the Secre¬ 
tary of the Interior, approved by the President: Pro¬ 
vided, That the Indians or other persons in said district 
shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands actu¬ 
ally in their use or occupation or now claimed bv them, 
but the terms under which such persons may acquire title 
to such lands is reserved for future legislation by Con¬ 
gress: And provided further , That parties who have 
located mines or mineral privileges therein under the 
laws of the United States applicable to the public domain, 
or who have occupied and improved or exercised acts of 
ownership over such claims, shall not be disturbed there¬ 
in, but shall be allowed to perfect their title to such 
claims by payment as aforesaid: And provided also, 
That the land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres 
at any station now occupied as missionary stations among 
the Indian tribes in said section, with the improvements 
thereon erected by or for such societies, shall be con¬ 
tinued in the occupancy of the several religious societies 
to which said missionary stations respectively belong 
until action by Congress. But nothing contained in this 
act shall be construed to put in force in said district the 
general land laws of the United States. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Gov¬ 
ernment for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-one, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, 

No person who shall after the passage of this act, enter 
upon any of the public lands with a view to occupation, 
entry, or settlement under any of the land laws shall be 
permitted to acquire title to more than three hundred and 
twenty acres in the aggregate, under all of said laws, but 
this limitation shall not operate to curtail the right of anj^ 
person who has heretofore made entry or settlement on 
the public lands, or whose occupation, entry or settlement, 
is validated by this act: Provided, That in all patents for 
lands hereafter taken up under any of the land laws of 
the United States or on entries or claims validated by 
this act west of the one hundredth meridian it shall be ex¬ 
pressed that there is reserved from the lands in said pat¬ 
ent described a right of way thereon for ditches or canals 
constructed by the authority of the United States. * * * 



15 


AN ACT To repeal the timber-culture laws, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, 

*!< «t« a# .j. 

rj> 

Sec. 16. That town-site entries may be made by in- T £^ n n site i 
corporated towns and cities on the mineral lands of the hinds 1 author- 
United States, but no title shall be acquired by such n d s en- 
towns or cities to any vein of gold, silver, .cinnabar, cop- f h e e r m? n e r d a i 
per, or lead, or to any valid mining claim or possession laws not in- 
held under existing law. When mineral veins are pos- strictfonVo 320 

sessed within the limits of an incorporated town or city, acres - _ 

and such possession is recognized by local authority or Act of con- 
by the laws of the United States, the title to town lots Ijar? a ^ pr i89i 
shall be subject to such recognized possession and the io 95 ) Stat Lm 
necessary use thereof, and when entry lias been made or 
patent issued for such town sites to such incorporated 
town or city, the possessor of such mineral vein may enter 
and receive patent for such mineral vein, and the surface 
ground appertaining thereto: Provided , That no entry 
shall be made by such mineral-vein claimant for surface 
ground where the owner or occupier of the surface 
ground shall have had possession of the same before the 
inception of the title of the mineral-vein applicant. 

Sec. 17. That reservoir sites located or selected and to 
be located and selected under the provisions of “ An act 
making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other pur¬ 
poses,” and amendments thereto, shall be restricted to and 
shall contain only so much land as is actually necessary 
for the construction and maintenance of reservoirs, ex¬ 
cluding so far as practicable lands occupied by actual 
settlers at the date of the location of said reservoirs, and 
that the provisions of “ An act making appropriations 
for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one, and for other purposes,” which reads as fol- 
Ioavs, viz: “ No person who shall after the passage of this 
act enter upon any of the public lands with a view to 
occupation, entry, or settlement under any of the land 
laws shall be permitted to acquire title to more than three 
hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate under all said 
laws,” shall be construed to include in the maximum 
amount of lands the title to which is permitted to be 
acquired by one person only agricultural lands and not 
include lands entered or sought to be entered under 
mineral land laws. 

* * * * * 

65916°—12-2 




16 


AN ACT To authorize the entry of lands chiefly valuable for building 
stone under the placer mining laws. 


Entry of 
lands chiefly 
valuable for 
building stone 
under the 
placer - mining 
laws. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Aug. 4, 1892 

(27 Stat. L., 
348). 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That any person authorized to enter lands under the 
mining laws or the United States may enter lands that 
are chiefly valuable for building stone under the pro¬ 
visions of the law in relation to placer-mineral claims: 
Provided, That lands reserved for the benefit of the public 
schools or donated to any State shall not be subject to 
entry under this act. 


AN ACT To amend section numbered twenty-three hundred and 
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to 
mining claims. 


% 

( Requirement Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
penditure° f o X r fives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
suspended 18 e 9 x ^ bled, That the provisions of section numbered twenty- 
cept as to three hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes 

—- ll ° of the United States, which require that on each claim 

gress 1 approved located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
? 28 ' stat 'T seventy-two, and until patent has been issued therefor, 
6). ’ not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor shall be 

performed or improvements made during each year, be 
suspended for the year eighteen hundred and ninety- 
three, so that no mining claim which has been regularly 
located and recorded as required by the local laws and 
mining regulations shall be subject to forfeiture for non¬ 
performance of the annual assessment for the year eight¬ 
een hundred and ninety-three: Provided, That the claim¬ 
ant or claimants of any mining location, in order to se¬ 
cure the benefits of this act shall cause to be recorded in 
the office where the location notice or certificate is filed on 
or before December thirty-first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-three, a notice that he or they, in good faith intend 
to hold and work said claim: Provided, however, That 
the provisions of this act shall not apply to the State of 
South Dakota. 

This act shall take effect from and after its passage. 


AN ACT To amend section numbered twenty-three hundred and 
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to 
mining claims. 


Requirement 
of proof of ex¬ 
penditure for 
the year 1894 
suspended ex¬ 
cept as to 
South Dakota. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
July 18, 1894 
(28 Stat. L., 
114). 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That the provisions of section numbered twenty- 
three hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes 
of the United States, which require that on each claim 
located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, and until patent has been issued therefor, 
not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor shall be 
performed or improvements made during each year, be 





17 


suspended for the year eighteen hundred and ninety- 
four, so that no mining claim which has been regularly 
located and recorded as required by the local laws and 
mining regulations shall be subject to forfeiture for non¬ 
performance of the annual assessment for the year eight¬ 
een hundred and ninety-four: Provided , That the claim¬ 
ant or claimants of any mining location, in order to secure 
the benefits of this act, shall cause to be recorded in the 
office where the location notice or certificate is filed on or 
before December thirty-first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-four, a notice that he or they in good faith intend 
to hold and work said claim: Provided , however , That 
the provisions of this act shall not apply to the State of 
South Dakota. 

Sec. 2. That this act shall take effect from and after 
its passage. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for current and contingent expenses 
of the Indian Department and fulfilling treaty stipulations with 
various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eight¬ 
een hundred and ninety-six, and for other purposes. 

[WICHITA LANDS, OKLAHOMA.] 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled^ 

.j. ^ ij. 

The said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Lands ceded 
Indian Territory hereby cede, convey, transfer, relinquish, Act of Mar. 
forever and absolutely, without any reservation whatever, |» t J 8 ^ G 8 

all their claim, title and interest of every kind and char- 894,'899). 
acter in and to the lands embraced in the following-de¬ 
scribed tract of country in the Indian Territory, to wit: 

Commencing at a point in the middle of the main 
channel of the Washita River, where the ninety-eighth 
meridian of west longitude crosses the same, thence up 
the middle of the main channel of said river to the line 
of ninety-eight degrees forty minutes west longitude, 
thence on said line of ninety-eight degrees forty minutes 
due north to the middle of the channel of the main Cana¬ 
dian River, thence down the middle of said main Cana¬ 
dian River to where it crosses the ninety-eighth meridian, 
thence due south to the place of beginning. 

* * * * ❖ 

That the laws relating to the mineral lands of the Mineral 
United States are hereby extended over the lands ceded la ' vs " 
by the foregoing agreement. 



18 


Provisos. 

Price. 

No occupancy 
prior to open¬ 
ing. 


Proviso. 

No occupancy 
prior to open¬ 
ing. 


Provisos. 

No occupancy 
prior to open¬ 
ing. 

Preference to 
discoverers of 
coal, etc. 


AN ACT Making appropriations for current and contingent expenses 
of the Indian Department and fulfilling treaty stipulations with 
various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eight¬ 
een hundred and ninety-seven, and for other purposes. 

>ic * * * 

[FORT BELKNAP INDIAN RESERVATION, MONTANA.] 

Sec. 8. 

* * * * * 

That upon the filing in the United States local land 
office for the district in which the lands surrendered by 
article one of the foregoing agreement are situated, of 
the approved plat of survey authorized by this section, 
the lands so surrendered shall be open to occupation, loca¬ 
tion, and purchase, under the provisions of the mineral- 
land laws only, subject to the several articles of the fore¬ 
going agreement: Provided , That said lands shall be sold 
at ten dollars per acre: And provided further , That the 
terms of this section shall not be construed to authorize 
the occupancy of said lands for mining purposes prior to 
the date of filing said approved plat of survey. * * * 

[BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, MONTANA.] 


Sec. 9. 

sfc sH ♦ ♦ 

That upon the filing in the United States local land 
office for the district in which the lands surrendered by 
article one of the foregoing agreement are situated, of 
the approved plat of survey authorized by this section, 
the lands so surrendered shall be opened to occupation, 
location, and purchase under the provisions of the min¬ 
eral-land laws only, subject to the several articles of the 
foregoing agreement: Provided , That the terms of this 
section shall not be construed to authorize occupancy of 
said lands for mining purposes prior to the date of filing 
said approved plat of survey. 

[SAN CARLOS INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZONA.] 

Sec. 10. 

* * * * * 

That upon the filing in the United States local land 
office for the district in which the lands surrendered by 
article one of the foregoing agreement are situated, of 
the approved plat of survey authorized by this section, 
the lands so surrendered shall be opened to occupation, 
location, and purchase under the provisions of the min¬ 
eral-land laws only, subject to the several articles of the 
foregoing agreement: Provided , That the terms of this 
section shall not be construed to authorize occupancy of 
said lands for mining purposes prior to the date of filing 
said approved plat of survey: Provided , however , That 
any person who in good faith prior to the passage of this 


19 


act liad discovered and opened, or located, a mine of coal 
or other mineral, shall have a preference right of pur- 
chase for ninety days from and after the official filing in June 10, isog 
the local land office of the approved plat of survey pro- 353, 357**360)! 
vided for by this section. 


AN ACT To authorize the entry and patenting of lands containing 
petroleum and other mineral oils under the placer mining laws of 
the United States. 

Be it enacted by tlxe Senate and Rouse of Representa- pa Entry^and 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- lands ^ontain- 
bled, That any person authorized to enter lands under 0 ther°m™” 
the mining laws of the United States may enter and ob- erai oils «n- 
tain patent to lands containing petroleum or other min- mining laws, 
eral oils, and chiefly valuable therefor, under the pro- Act of con- 
visions of the laws relating to placer mineral claims: s r ess approved 
Provided , That lands containing such petroleum or other (20' stat. l., 
mineral oils which have heretofore been filed upon, 526)f 
claimed, or improved as mineral, but not yet patented, 
may be held and patented under the provisions of this 
act the same as if such filing, claim, or improvement were 
subsequent to the date of the passage hereof. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes. 

# sj: ^ 

All public lands heretofore designated and reserved by Act of con- 
the President of the United States under the provisions June a 4 Ppr i807 
of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and 34° 35^30') L ’ 
ninety-one, the orders for which shall be and remain in 
full force and effect, unsuspended and unrevoked, and all 
public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved 
as public forest reserves under said act, shall be as far as 
practicable controlled and administered in accordance 
with the following provisions: 

No public forest reservation shall be established, except 
to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, to be estab- 
or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of hshetL 
water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber 
for the use and necessities of citizens of the United 
States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provi¬ 
sions, or of the act providing for such reservations, to 
authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for 
the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for 
forest purposes. 

* * * * * 

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regu- b Use of tim- 
lations to be prescribed by him, the use of timber and settlers, etc. 
stone found upon such reservations, free of charge, by 
bona fide settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for 
minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, pros- 



20 


pecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed 
by such persons for such purposes; such timber to be used 
within the State or Territory, respectively, where such 
reservations may be located. 

Egress and Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the 
uerTVrthin egress or ingress of actual settlers residing within the 
etc ervatl ° n8 ' boundaries of such reservations, or from crossing the 
same to and from their property or homes; and such 
wagon roads and other improvements may be constructed 
thereon as may be necessary to reach their homes and to 
utilize their property under such rules and regulations as 
may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Nor 
shall anything herein prohibit any person from entering 
upon such forest reservations for all proper and lawful 
purposes, including that of prospecting, locating, and de¬ 
veloping the mineral resources thereof: Provided , That 
such persons comply with the rules and regulations cover¬ 
ing such forest reservations. 

»[. «.t» »u 

»j» «j» 

of Mineral 1 °or Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the In- 
agricultura i terior, with the approval of the President, after sixty 
pubifc domain 6 days’ notice thereof, published in two papers of general 
circulation in the State or Territory wherein any forest 
reservation is situated, and near the said reservation, any 
public lands embraced within the limits of any forest 
reservation which, after due examination by personal in¬ 
spection of a competent person appointed for that pur¬ 
pose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found 
better adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes 
than for forest usage, may be restored to the public do¬ 
main. And any mineral lands in any forest reservation 
which have been or which may be shown to be such, and 
subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the 
United States and the rules and regulations applying 
thereto, shall continue to be subject to such location and 
entry, notAvithstanding any provisions herein contained. 

AN ACT Extending the homestead laws and providing for right of 
way for railroads in the district of Alaska, and for other purposes. 

% * ^ * * 

rights 1 in A?as^ Sec. 13 . That native-born citizens of the Dominion of 
ka to native- Canada shall be accorded in said district of Alaska the 
o? r the Domin.same mining rights and privileges accorded to citizens of 
ion of Canada, the United States in British Columbia and the Northwest 
Act of Con- Territory by the laws of the Dominion of Canada or the 
May S 14, pi 1898local laws, rules, and regulations; but no greater rights 
4i5). Stat ' L ” shall be thus accorded than citizens of the United States, 
or persons who have declared their intention to become 
such, may enjoy in said district of Alaska ; and the Secre¬ 
tary of the Interior shall from time to time promulgate 
and enforce rules and regulations to carry this provision 
into effect. 



21 


AN ACT Making further provisions for a civil government for Alaska, 

and for other purposes. 

***** 

Sec. 15 . The respective recorders shall, upon the pay¬ 
ment of the fees for the same prescribed by the Attorney- 
General, record separately, in large and well-bound sepa¬ 
rate books, in fair hand: 

First. Deeds, grants, transfers, contracts to sell or con¬ 
vey real estate and mortgages of real estate, releases of 
mortgages, powers of attorney, leases which have been 
acknowledged or proved, mortgages upon personal prop¬ 
erty ; 

***** 

Ninth. Affidavits of annual work done on mining 
claims; 

Tenth. Notices of mining location and declaratory 
statements; 

Eleventh. Such other writings as are required or per¬ 
mitted by law to be recorded, including the liens of me¬ 
chanics, laborers, and others: Provided , Notices of loca¬ 
tion of mining claims shall be filed for record within 
ninety days from the date of the discovery of the claim 
described in the notice, and all instruments shall be re¬ 
corded in the recording district in which the property or 
subject-matter affected by the instrument is situated, and 
where the property or subject-matter is not situated in 
any established recording district the instrument affect¬ 
ing the same shall be recorded in the office of the clerk 
of the division of the court having supervision over the 
recording division in which such property or subject- 
matter is situated. 

Mg .?> 

* Provided , Miners in any organized mining 
district may make rules and regulations governing the 
recording of notices of location of mining claims, water 
rights, flumes and ditches, mill sites and affidavits of 
labor, not in conflict with this act or the general laws of 
the United States; and nothing in this act shall be con¬ 
strued so as to prevent the miners in any regularly organ¬ 
ized paining district not within any recording district 
established by the court from electing their own mining 
recorder to act as such until a recorder therefor is ap¬ 
pointed by the court: Provided f urther , All records here¬ 
tofore regularly made by the United States commissioner 
at Dyea, Skagway, and the recorder at Douglas City, not 
in conflict with any records regularly made with the 
United States commissioner at Juneau, are heVeby legal¬ 
ized. And all records heretofore made in good faith in 
any regularly organized mining district are hereby made 
public records, and the same shall be delivered to the re¬ 
corder for the recording district including such mining 
district within six months from the passage of this act. 


What record¬ 
ed. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
June 6, 1900 

(31 Stat. L., 
321, 326, 330). 


Proviso. 

Mining 

claims. 


Where in¬ 
struments re¬ 
corded. 


Proviso. 
Miners’ reg- 
u 1 a t i ons for 
recording, etc. 
—recorder. 


Records a t 
Dyea, etc., le¬ 
galized. 



22 


Mining laws. 


Provisos. 
Gold, etc. Ex- 
florations o n 
3ering Sea. 


—miners’ regu¬ 
lations. 


■—not to con¬ 
flict with Fed¬ 
eral laws. 


Exclusive per¬ 
mits to mine 
void, etc. 


Provision re¬ 
serving r o ad- 
way, etc., not 
to apply. Vol. 
30, p. 413. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
June 6, 1900 

(31 Stat. L., 
G80). 


\ 


Sec. 20 . The laws of the United States relating to min¬ 
ing claims, mineral locations, and rights incident thereto 
are hereby extended to the district of Alaska: Provided , 
That subject only to such general limitations as may be 
necessary to exempt navigation from artificial obstruc¬ 
tions all land and shoal water between low and mean high 
tide on the shores, bays, and inlets of Bering Sea, within 
the jurisdiction of the United States, shall be subject to 
exploration and mining for gold and other precious metals 
by citizens of the United States, or persons who have 
legally declared their intentions to become such, under 
such reasonable rules and regulations as the miners in 
organized mining districts may have heretofore made or 
may hereafter make governing the temporary possession 
thereof for exploration and mining purposes until other¬ 
wise provided by law: Provided further , That the rules 
and regulations established by the miners shall not be in 
conflict with the mining laws of the United States; and 
no exclusive permits shall be granted bv the Secretary of 
War authorizing any person or persons, corporation, or 
company to excavate or mine under any of said waters 
beloAv low tide, and if such exclusive permit has been 
granted it is hereby revoked and declared null and void; 
but citizens of the United States or persons who have 
legally declared their intention to become such shall have 
the right to dredge and mine for gold or other precious 
metals in said waters, below low tide, subject to such 
general rules and regulations as the Secretary of War 
may prescribe for the preservation of order and the pro¬ 
tection of the interests of commerce; such rules and regu¬ 
lations shall not, however, deprive miners on the beach 
of the right hereby given to dump tailings into or pump 
from the sea opposite their claims, except where such 
dumping Avould actually obstruct navigation; and the 
reservation of a roadway sixty feet wide, under the tenth 
section of the act of May fourteenth, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-eight, entitled “An act extending the home¬ 
stead laws and providing for right of way for railroads 
in the district of Alaska, and for other purposes,” shall 
not apply to mineral lands or town sites. 

* sfc H* % $ 

An ACT To ratify an agreement with the Indians of the Fort Hall 
Reservation in Idaho, and making appropriations to carry the same 
into effect. 

[DISPOSITION OF COMANCHE, KIOWA, AND APACHE LANDS.] 

❖ * * * * 

That should any of said lands allotted to said Indians, 
or opened to settlement under this act, contain valuable 
mineral deposits, such mineral deposits shall be open to 
location and entry, under the existing mining laws of the 
United States, upon the passage of this act, and the min¬ 
eral laws of the United States are hereby extended over 
said lands. 

* * * * * 


23 


AN ACT Extending the mining laws to saline lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Mining laws 
tines of the United States of America in Congress assem- fine'lands 1 ! 0 sa ' 
bled , That all unoccupied public lands of the United Act of con- 
States containing salt springs, or deposits of salt in any ^ess approved 
form, and chiefly valuable therefor, are hereby declared (bi *s t a t. l., 
to be subject to location and purchase under the pro- <4o) ’ 
visions of the law relating to placer-mining claims: Pro¬ 
vided , That the same person shall not locate or enter more 
than one claim hereunder. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for the current and contingent ex¬ 
penses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations 
with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and three, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, 

* Hs ❖ sfc ❖ 

That the Secretary of the Interior, with the consent wl T -l nta ,l 1 - a n d 
thereto of* the majority of the adult male Indians of the utes. e lver 
Uintah and the White River tribes of Ute Indians, to be irr 4 abi™iand° f 
ascertained as soon as practicable by an inspector, shall 
cause to be allotted to each head of a family eighty acres 
of agricultural land which can be irrigated and forty 
acres of such land to each other member of said tribes, 
said allotments to be made prior to October first, nine¬ 
teen hundred and three, on which date all the unallotted lan I[“ a Restored 
lands within said reservation shall be restored to the pub- to public do- 
lic domain: Provided , That persons entering any of said 11 Provisos. 
land under the homestead law shall pay therefor at the ent I J[ ) “ esteatl 
rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre: And 
provided further , That nothing herein contained s*hall lea ^ e J n e r a 1 
impair the rights of any mineral lease which has been 
approved by the Secretary of the Interior, or any permit 
heretofore issued by direction of the Secretary of the In¬ 
terior to negotiate with said Indians for a mineral lease; 
but any person or company having so obtained such ap¬ 
proved mineral lease or such permit to negotiate with said 
Indians for a mineral lease on said reservation, pending 
such time and up to thirty days before said lands are 
restored to the public domain as aforesaid, shall have in 
lieu of such lease or permit the preferential right to locate 
under the mining laws not to exceed six hundred and 
forty acres of contiguous mineral land, except the Raven in ^ompany in " 
Mining Company, which may in lieu of its lease locate A ^ o n 
one hundred mining claims of the character of mineral of proceeds 

mentioned in its lease; and the proceeds of the sale of the fromsales - _ 

lands so restored to the public domain shall be applied, ^f^of^con^ 
first, to the reimbursement of the United States for any May 27, 1902 
moneys advanced to said Indians to carry into effect the 263). Stat ‘ L ” 




24 


Assess men t 
required for 
oil mining 
claims. 


Act of Con- 

f ress approved 
^eb. 12, 1903 
(32 Stat. L., 
825). 


TJncompahgre 
Indian Reser¬ 
vation. 

Mining 
claims located 
on prior to Jan. 
1, 1891, valid. 


30 Stat., p. 
87. 


Patents to is¬ 
sue on reloca¬ 
tions, etc., of 
claims. 


foregoing provisions; and the remainder, under the direc¬ 
tion of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be used for the 
benefit of said Indians. 

5i< sH sft 

AN ACT Defining what shall constitute and providing for assess¬ 
ments on oil mining claims. 

Be it enacted by tlie Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That where oil lands are located under the provi¬ 
sions of title thirty-two, chapter six, Revised Statutes 
of the United States, as placer mining claims, the annual 
assessment labor upon such claims may be done upon any 
one of a group of claims lying contiguous and owned by 
the same person or corporation, not exceeding five claims 
in all: Provided , That said labor will tend to the devel¬ 
opment or to determine the oil-bearing character of such 
contiguous claims. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for the current and contingent ex¬ 
penses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty .stipulations 
with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and four, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, 

That in the lands within the former Uncompaligre In¬ 
dian Reservation, in the State of Utah, containing gilson- 
ite, asphaltum, elaterite, or other like substances, which 
were reserved from location and entry by provision in the 
act of Congress entitled “An act making appropriations 
for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian 
Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with 
various Indian tribes, for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for 
other purposes,” approved June seventh, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and ninety-seven, all discoveries and locations of 
any such mineral lands by qualified persons prior to Jan¬ 
uary first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, not pre¬ 
viously discovered and located, who recorded notices of 
such discoveries and locations prior to January first, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-one, either in the State of 
Colorado, or in the office of the county recorder of Uintah 
County, Utah, shall have all the force and effect accorded 
by law to locations of mining claims upon the public 
domain. All such locations may hereafter be perfected, 
and patents shall be issued therefor upon compliance 
with the requirements of the mineral-land laws, provided 
that the owners of such locations shall relocate their 
respective claims and record the same in the office of the 
county recorder of Uintah County, Utah, within ninety 



25 


days after the passage of this act. All locations of any claims io- 
siich mineral lands made and recorded on or subsequent jJn. ed i, a lili^ 
to January first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, are iuvalid - 
hereby declared to be null and void; and the remainder sale of re- 
of the lands heretofore reserved as aforesaid because of mineral lands. 1 
the mineral substances contained in them, in so far as the 
same may be within even-numbered sections, shall be sold, 
and disposed of in tracts not exceeding forty acres, or a 
quarter of a quarter of a section, in such manner and 
upon such terms and with such restrictions as may be Restrictions. 
prescribed in a proclamation of the President of the Act of con- 
United States issued for that purpose not less than one mI? s y! IH 1903 
hundred and twenty days after the passage of this act, stat - L -’ 
and not less than ninety days before the time of sale or 
disposal, and the balance of said lands and also all the 
mineral therein are hereby specifically reserved for future 
action of Congress. 

* * * H« ❖ 

AN ACT For the survey and allotment of lands now embraced within 
the limits of the Flathead Indian Reservation, in the State of Mon¬ 
tana, and the sale and disposal of all surplus lands after allotment. 

H( H« H* H* 

Sec. 5. That said commissioners shall then proceed to Class mca- 
personally inspect and classify and appraise, by the small- linds. etc ’’ ° 
est legal subdivisions of forty acres each, all of the re¬ 
maining lands embraced within said reservation. In 
making such classification and appraisement said lands 
shall be divided into the following classes: First, agri¬ 
cultural land of the first class; second, agricultural land 
of the second class; third, timber lands, the same to be 
lands more valuable for their timber than for any other 
purpose; fourth, mineral lands; and fifth, grazing lands. 

4 * »!» 

v v 

Sec. 8. That when said commission shall have com- Disposal of 
pleted the classification and appraisement of all of said lands - 
lands and the same shall have been approved by the Sec¬ 
retary of the Interior, the land shall be disposed of under 
the provisions of the homestead, mineral, and town-site 
laws of the United States, except such of said lands as 
shall have been classified as timber lands, and excepting Timber and 
sections sixteen and thirty-six of each township, which excited* n d 9 
are hereby granted to the State of Montana for school 
purposes. * * * 

He Hs * * * 

Sec. 10 . That only mineral entry may be made on such ^Mineral land 
of said lands as said commission shall designate and en 1 os ' 
classify as mineral under the general provisions of the 
mining laws of the United States, and mineral entry may 
also be made on any of said lands whether designated 
by said commission as mineral lands or otherwise, such 
classification by said commission being only prima facie 



26 


Proviso. 

Exceptions. 


Act of Con- 
press approved 
Apr. 23, 1004 
(33 Stat. L., 
302). 


Town- site 
and min eral 
lands. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Apr. 27, 1004 
(33 Stat. L., 
352). 


Appraisal of 
unallotted 
lands, etc. 


Mineral 

lands. 


Provisos. 

Lands not 
classified as 
mineral lands. 


Restriction. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Dec. 21, 1004 
(33 Stat. L„ 
505). 


Opening of 
lands to entry. 


evidence of the mineral or nonmineral character of the 
same: Provided , That no such mineral locations shall be 
permitted upon any lands allotted' in severalty to an 
Indian. 

AN ACT To ratify and amend an agreement with the Indians of the 
Crow Reservation, in Montana, and making appropriations to carry 
the same into effect. 

***** 

Sec. 5. * * * And provided further , That the price 

of said lands shall be four dollars per acre, when entered 
under the homestead laws. * * * Lands entered 

under the town-site and mineral land laws shall be paid 
for in amount and manner as provided by said laws, but 
in no event at a less price than that fixed herein for such 
lands, if entered under the homestead laws. * * * 

AN ACT To authorize the sale and disposition of surplus or unallotted 
lands of the Yakima Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington. 

***** 

Sec. 3. That the residue of the lands of said reserva¬ 
tion—that is, the lands not allotted and not reserved— 
shall be classified under the direction of the Secretary of 
the Interior as irrigable lands, grazing lands, timber 
lands, or arid lands, and shall be appraised under their 
appropriate classes by legal subdivisions, with the excep¬ 
tion of the mineral lands, which need not be appraised, 
and the timber on the lands classified as timber lands 
shall be appraised separately from the land. The basis 
for the appraisal of the timber shall be the amount of 
standing merchantable timber thereon, which shall be 
ascertained and reported. 

***** 

The lands classified as mineral lands shall be subject 
to location and disposal under the mineral-land laws of 
the United States: Provided , That lands not classified as 
mineral may also be located and entered as mineral lands, 
subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior and 
conditioned upon the payment, within one year from the 
date when located, of the appraised value of the lands 
per acre fixed prior to the date of such location, but at 
not less than the price fixed by existing law for mineral 
lands: Provided further , That no such mineral locations 
shall be permitted on any lands allotted to Indians in 
severalty or reserved for any purpose as herein author¬ 
ized. 

AN ACT To ratify and amend an agreement with the Indians residing 
on the Shoshone or Wind River Indian Reservation in the State of 
Wyoming and to make appropriations for carrying the same into 
effect. 

***** 

Sec. 2. That the lands ceded to the United States under 
the said agreement shall be disposed of under the pro- 





27 


visions of the homestead, town-site, coal, and mineral 
land laws of the United States and shall be opened to 
settlement and entry by proclamation of the Presi- Proclamation, 
dent. * * * 

* 5j{ jje * 

Lands entered under the town-site, coal, and Tow^n-sDe, 
mineral land laws shall be paid for in amount and man- erai’ entries. u 
ner as provided by said laws. Notice of location of all 
mineral entries shall be filed in the local land office of 
the district in which the lands covered by the location 
are situated, and unless entry and payment shall be made 
within three years from the date of location all rights 
thereunder shall cease; * * * that all lands, except Act of con- 

mineral and coal lands, herein ceded remaining undis- SIS? a ^ pr ?905 
posed of at the expiration of five years from the opening joi G) stat ’ L ” 
of said lands to entry shall be sold to the highest bidder 
for cash at not less than one dollar per acre under rules 
and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Interior. * * * 

AN ACT To authorize the sale and disposition of surplus or unallotted 
lands of the diminished Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of 
Washington, and for other purposes. 

sj: sic s|« 

Sec. 3. That upon the completion of said allotments to lai ^ s i n e r a 1 
said Indians the residue or surplus lands—that is, lands— Act ~ of c ~ 
not allotted or reserved for Indian school, agency, or gress approved 
other purposes—of the said diminished Colville Indian Mar - 22, 1906 - 
Reservation shall be classified under the direction of the 
Secretary of the Interior as irrigable lands, grazing 
lands, timber lands, mineral lands, or arid lands, and 
shall be appraised under their appropriate classes by 
legal subdivisions, with the exception of the lands classed 
as mineral lands, which need not be appraised, and which 
shall be disposed of under the general mining laws of the 
United States. 

AN ACT Making appropriations for the current and contingent ex¬ 
penses of the Indian Department, for fulfilling treaty stipulations 
with various Indian tribes, and for other purposes, for the fiscal 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seven. 

[COEUK D’ALENE INDIAN LANDS.] 
jfc sj: sfc ❖ ❖ 

* * * Provided further , That the general mining lan( JJ inera! 

laws of the United States shall extend after the approval —— y — ■ 
of this act to any of said lands, and mineral entry may gre ss approved 
be made on any of said lands, but no such mineral selec- [ a 7 e | t * t 10 £ 6 
tion shall be permitted upon any lands allotted in sev- 336 ). 
eralty to the Indians: Provided further , That all the de p 0 ° sG t s and r e 1 ! 
coal or oil deposits in or under the lands on the said served, 
reservation shall be and remain the property of the United 
States, and no patent that may be issued under the pro¬ 
visions of this or any other act of Congress shall convey 
any title thereto. * * * 





28 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Mar. 2, 1907 

(35 Stat. L., 
1243). 

Alaska. 

Annual im- 
prove ments, 
etc., required 
on raining 
claims. 


Filina affi¬ 
davits. 


Contents. 


Prima facie 
e v i d e nee of 
performance of 
work, etc. 


Forfeiture. 


Officer before 
whom affida¬ 
vits may be 
made. 

R. S., secs. 
5392, 5393, p. 
1045. 

Time of fil¬ 
ing. 

Fee. 


AN ACT To amend the laws governing labor or improvements upon 

mining claims in Alaska. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That during each year and until patent has been 
issued therefor, at least one hundred dollars’ worth of 
labor shall be performed or improvements made on, or 
for the benefit or development of, in accordance with 
existing law, each mining claim in the district of Alaska 
heretofore or hereafter located. And the locator or 
owner of such claim or some other person having knowl¬ 
edge of the facts may also make and file with the said 
recorder of the district in which the claims shall be situate 
an affidavit showing the performance of labor or making 
of improvements to the amount of one hundred dollars 
as aforesaid and specifying the character and extent of 
such work. Such affidavit shall set forth the following: 
First, the name or number of the mining claims and 
where situated; second, the number of days’ work done 
and the character and value of the improvements placed 
thereon; third, the date of the performance of such labor 
and of making improvements; fourth, at whose instance 
the work was done or the improvements made; fifth, the 
actual amount paid for work and improvement, and by 
whom paid when the same was not clone by the owner. 
Such affidavit shall be prima facie evidence of the per¬ 
formance of such work or making of such improvements, 
but if such affidavits be not filed within the time fixed by 
this act the burden of proof shall be upon the claimant to 
establish the performance of such annual work and im¬ 
provements. And upon failure of the locator or owner 
of any such claim to comply with the provisions of this 
act, as to performance of work and improvements, such 
claim shall become forfeited and open to location by 
others as if no location of the same had ever been made. 
The affidavits required hereby may be made before any 
officer authorized to administer oaths, and the provisions 
of sections fifty-three hundred and ninety-two and fifty- 
three hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes 
are hereby extended to such affidavits. Said affidavits 
shall be filed not later than ninety days after the close of 
the year in which such work is performed. 

Sec. 2. That the recorders for the several divisions or 
districts of Alaska shall collect the sum of one dollar and 
fifty cents as a fee for the filing, recording, and indexing 
said annual proofs of work and improvements for each 
claim so recorded. 

AN ACT Authorizing a resurvey of certain townships in the State of 
Wyoming, and for other purposes. 


[BITTER ROOT VALLEY, MONTANA.] 

ex^e n ndV<Tto Sec. 11 . That all the provisions of the mining laws of 
lands the United States are hereby extended and made ap- 


29 


plicable to the undisposed-of lands in the Bitter Boot 
Valley, State of Montana, above the mouth of the Lo Lo 
Fork of the Bitter Boot Biver, designated in the act of 
June fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two: Provided , 
That all mining locations and entries heretofore made or 
attempted to be made upon said lands shall be determined 
by the Department of the Interior as if said lands had 
been subject to mineral location and entry at the time 
such locations and entries were made or attempted to be 
made: And provided further , That this act shall not be 
applicable to lands withdrawn for administration sites 
for use of the Forest Service. 

AN ACT For relief of applicants for mineral surveys. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is 
hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of the moneys 
heretofore or hereafter covered into the Treasury from 
deposits made by individuals to cover cost of work per¬ 
formed and to be performed in the offices of the United 
States surveyors-general in connection with the survey of 
mineral lands, any excess in the amount deposited over 
and above the actual cost of the work performed, includ¬ 
ing all expenses incident thereto for which the deposits 
were severally made or the whole of any unused deposit ; 
and such sums, as the several cases may be, shall be 
deemed to be annually and permanently appropriated for 
that purpose. Such repayments shall be made to the 
person or persons who made the several deposits, or to 
his or their legal representatives, after the completion or 
abandonment of the work for which the deposits were 
made, and upon an account certified by the surveyor-gen¬ 
eral of the district in which the mineral land surveyed, or 
sought to be surveyed is situated and approved by the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

AN ACT Extending the time for final entry of mineral claims within 
the Shoshone or Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem¬ 
bled, That section two of chapter fourteen hundred and 
fifty-two of the Statutes of the Fifty-eighth Congress 
(United States Statutes at Large, volume thirty-three, 
part one), being “An act to ratify and amend an agree¬ 
ment with the Indians residing on the Shoshone or Wind 
Biver Indian Beservation, in the State of Wyoming, and 
to make appropriations to carry the same into effect, r be, 
and the same is hereby, amended so that all claimants and 
locators of mineral lands within the ceded portion of said 
reservation shall have five years from the date of location 
within which to make entry and payment instead of three 
years, as now provided by the said act. 


Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
May 29, 1908 
(35 Stat. L., 
467). 


Repayment 
of deposits for 
mineral sur¬ 
veys. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Feb. 24, 1909 
(36 Stat. L., 
—). Pub. No. 
257, 


Time ex¬ 
tended for mak¬ 
ing entry. 

Act of Con¬ 
gress approved 
Feb. 25, 1909 
(36 Stat. L„ 
—). Pub. No. 
266. 


REGULATIONS. 


NATURE AND EXTENT OF MINING CLAIMS. 


1. Mining 
placers. 


claims are of two distinct classes: Lode claims and 


Lode Claims. 


2. The status of lode claims located or patented previous to the 10th 
day of May, 1872, is not changed with regard to their extent along the 
lode or width of surface; but the claim is enlarged by sections 2322 
and 2328, by investing the locator, his heirs or assigns, with the right 
to follow, upon the conditions stated therein, all veins, lodes, or ledges, 
the top or apex of which lies inside of the surface lines of his claim. 

3. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the 
possessory right to veins, lodes, or ledges, other than the one named 
in the original location, to such as were not adversely claimed on May 
10, 1872 , and that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely 
claimed at that date the right of the party so adversely claiming is in 
no way impaired by the provisions of the Revised Statutes. 

4. From and after the 10th May, 1872, any person who is a citizen 
of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become a 
citizen, may locate, record, and hold a mining claim of fifteen hundred 
linear feet along the course of any mineral vein or lode subject to loca¬ 
tion; or an association of persons, severally qualified as above, may 
make joint location of such claim of fifteen hundred feet , but in no 
event can a location of a vein or lode made after the 10th day of May, 
1872, exceed fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, whatever 
may be the number of persons composing the association. 

5. With regard to the extent of surface ground adjoining a vein or 
lode, and claimed for the convenient working thereof, the Revised 
Statutes provide that the lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes 
made after May 10, 1872, shall in no case exceed three hundred feet on 
each side of the middle of. the vein at the surface , and that no such 
surface rights shall be limited by any mining regulations to less than 
twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, 
except where adverse rights existing on the 10th May, 1872, may ren¬ 
der such limitation necessary; the end lines of such claims to be in all 
cases parallel to each other. Said lateral measurements can not extend 
beyond three hundred feet on either side of the middle of the vein at 
the surface, or such distance as is allowed by local laws. For example: 
400 feet can not be taken on one side and 200 feet on the other. If, 
however, 300 feet on each side are allowed, and by reason of prior 
claims but 100 feet can be taken on one side, the locator will not be 

( 30 ) 


31 


restricted to less than 300 feet on the other side; and when the locator 
does not determine by exploration where the middle of the vein at the 
surface is, his discovery shaft must be assumed to mark such point. 

6. By the foregoing it will be perceived that no lode claim located 
after the 10th May, 1872, can exceed a parallelogram fifteen hun¬ 
dred feet in length by six hundred feet in width, but wdiether surface 
ground of that width can be taken depends upon the local regulations 
or State or Territorial laws in force in the several mining districts; 
and that no such local regulations or State or Territorial laws shall 
limit a vein or lode claim to less than fifteen hundred feet along the 
course thereof, whether the location is made by one or more persons, 
nor can surface rights be limited to less than fifty feet in width unless 
adverse claims existing on the 10th day of May, 1872, render such 
lateral limitation necessary. 

7. Locators can not exercise too much care in defining their loca¬ 
tions at the outset, inasmuch as the law requires that all records of 
mining locations made subsequent to May 10, 1872, shall contain the 
name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a 
description of the claim or claims located, by reference to some natu¬ 
ral object or permanent monument, as will identify the claim. 

8. No lode claim shall be located until after the discovery of a vein 
or lode within the limits of the claim, the object of which provision 
is evidently to prevent the appropriation of presumed mineral ground 
for speculative purposes, to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors, 
before sufficient work has been done to determine whether a vein or 
lode really exists. 

9. The claimant should, therefore, prior to locating his claim, unless 
the vein can be traced upon the surface, sink a shaft or run a tunnel 
or drift to a sufficient depth therein to discover and develop a mineral¬ 
bearing vein, lode, or crevice; should determine, if possible, the gen¬ 
eral course of such vein in either direction from the point of discovery, 
by which direction he will be governed in marking the boundaries of 
his claim on the surface. His location notice should give the course 
and distance as nearly as practicable from the discovery shaft on the 
claim to some permanent, well-known points or objects, such, for in¬ 
stance, as stone monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, 
point of intersection of well-known gulches, ravines, or roads, prom¬ 
inent buttes, hills, etc., which may be in the immediate vicinity, and 
which will serve to perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim and 
render it susceptible of identification from the description thereof 
given in the record of locations in the district, and should be duly 
recorded. 

10. In addition to the foregoing data, the claimant should state the 
names of adjoining claims, or, if none adjoin, the relative positions of 
the nearest claims; should drive a post or erect a monument of stones 
at each corner of his surface ground, and at the point of discovery or 
discovery shaft should fix a post, stake, or board, upon which should 
be designated the name of the lode, the name or names of the locators, 
the number of feet claimed, and in which direction from the point of 
discovery, it being essential that the location notice filed for record, 
in addition to the foregoing description, should state whether the 
entire claim of fifteen hundred feet is taken on one side of the point of 
discovery, or wffiether it is partly upon one and partly upon the other 

6591 G°—12-3 



32 


side thereof, and in the latter case, how many feet are claimed upon 
each side of such discovery point. 

11. The location notice must be filed for record in all respects as 
required by the State or Territorial laws and local rules and regula¬ 
tions, if there be any. 

12. In order to hold the possessory title to a mining claim located 
prior to May 10, 1872, the law requires that ten dollars shall be 
expended annually in labor or improvements for each one hundred 
feet in length along the vein or lode. In order to hold the pos¬ 
sessory right to a location made since May 10, 1872, not less than one 
hundred dollars’ worth of labor must be performed or improvements 
made thereon annually. Under the provisions of the act of Congress 
approved January 22, 1880, the first annual expenditure becomes due 
and must be performed during the calendar year succeeding that in 
which the location was made. Where a number of contiguous claims 
are held in common, the aggregate expenditure that would be neces¬ 
sary to hold all the claims, may be made upon any one claim. Cor¬ 
nering locations are held not to be contiguous. 

13. Failure to make the expenditure or perform the labor required 
upon a location made before or since May 10, 1872, will subject a 
claim to relocation, unless the original locator, his heirs, assigns, or 
legal representatives have resumed work after such failure and before 
relocation. 

14. Annual expenditure is not required subsequent to entry, the 
date of issuing the patent certificate being the date contemplated by 
statute. 

15. Upon the failure of any one of several coowners to contribute 
his proportion of the required expenditures, the coowners, who have 
performed the labor or made the improvements as required, may, 
at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent coowner personal 
notice in writing, or notice by publication in the newspaper published 
nearest the claim for at least once a week for ninety days; and if upon 
the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing, or upon 
the expiration of one hundred and eighty days after the first news¬ 
paper publication of notice, the delinquent coowner shall have failed 
to contribute his proportion to meet such expenditures or improve¬ 
ments, his interest in the claim by law passes to his coowners who 
have made the expenditures or improvements as aforesaid. Where 
a claimant alleges ownership of a forfeited interest under the fore¬ 
going provision, the sworn statement of the publisher as to the facts 
of publication, giving dates and a printed copy of the notice pub¬ 
lished, should be furnished, and the claimant must swear that the 
delinquent coowner failed to contribute his proper proportion within 
the period fixed by the statute. 


TUNNELS. 

10. The effect of section 2323, Revised Statutes, is to give the pro¬ 
prietors of a mining tunnel run in good faith the possessory right 
to fifteen hundred feet of any blind lodes cut, discovered, or inter¬ 
sected by such tunnel, which were not previously known to exist, 
within three thousand feet from the face or point of commencement 
of such tunnel, and to prohibit other parties, after the commencement 
of the tunnel, from prospecting for and making locations of lodes on 


33 


the line thereof and within said distance of three thousand feet, 
unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were previously known 
to exist. The term “ face,’’ as used in said section, is construed and 
held to mean the first working face formed in the tunnel, and to 
signify the point at which the tunnel actually enters cover; it being 
from this point that the three thousand feet are to be counted upon 
which prospecting is prohibited as aforesaid. 

IT. To avail themselves of the benefits of this provision of law, the 
proprietors of a mining tunnel will be required, at the time they enter 
cover as aforesaid, to give proper notice of their tunnel location by 
erecting a substantial post, board, or monument at the face or point 
of commencement thereof, upon which should be posted a good and 
sufficient notice, giving the names of the parties or company claiming 
the tunnel right; the actual or proposed course or direction of the 
tunnel, the height and width thereof, and the course and distance 
from such face or point of commencement to some permanent well- 
known objects in the vicinity by which to fix and determine the locus 
in manner heretofore set forth applicable to locations of veins or 
lodes, and at the time of posting such notice they shall, in order that 
miners or prospectors may be enabled to determine whether or not 
they are within the lines of the tunnel, establish the boundary lines 
thereof, by stakes or monuments placed along such lines at proper 
intervals, to the terminus of the three thousand feet from the face or 
point of commencement of the tunnel, and the lines so marked will 
define and govern as to specific boundaries within which prospecting 
for lodes not previously known to exist is prohibited while work on 
the tunnel is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence. 

18. A full and correct copy of such notice of location defining the 
tunnel claim must be filed for record with the mining recorder of the 
district, to which notice must be attached the sworn statement or 
declaration of the owners, claimants, or projectors of such tunnel, 
setting forth the facts in the case; stating the amount expended by 
themselves and their predecessors in interest in prosecuting work 
thereon; the extent of the work performed, and that it is bona fide 
their intention to prosecute work on the tunnel so located and de¬ 
scribed with reasonable diligence for the development of a vein or 
lode, or for the discovery of mines, or both, as the case may be. This 
notice of location must be duly recorded, and. with the said sworn 
statement attached, kept on the recorder’s files for future reference. 


Placer Claims. 

19. But one discovery of mineral is required to support a placer 
location, whether it be of twenty acres by an individual, or of one 
hundred and sixty acres or less by an association of persons. 

20. The act of August 4, 1892, extends the mineral-land laws so as 
to bring lands chiefly valuable for building stone within the provi¬ 
sions of said law by authorizing a placer entry of such lands. Regis¬ 
ters and receivers should make a reference to said act on the entry 
papers in the case of all placer entries made for lands containing 
stone chiefly valuable for building purposes. Lands reserved for the 
benefit of public schools or donated to any State are not subject to 
entrv under said act. 


34 


21. The act of February 11, 1897, provides for the location and 
entry of public lands chiefly valuable for petroleum or other mineral 
oils, and entries of that nature made prior to the passage of said act 
are to be considered as though made thereunder. 

22. By section 2330 authority is given for subdividing forty-acre 
legal subdivisions into ten-acre tracts. These ten-acre tracts should 
be considered and dealt with as legal subdivisions, and an applicant 
having a placer claim which conforms to one or more of such ten-acre 
tracts, contiguous in case of two or more tracts, may make entry 
thereof, after the usual proceedings, without further survey or plat. 

23. | Omitted.] 

24. A ten-acre subdivision may be described, for instance if situ¬ 
ated in the extreme northeast of the section, as the u NE. 4 of the 
NE. J of the NE. \ ” of the section, or, in like manner, by appropri¬ 
ate terms, wherever situated; but, in addition to this description, 
the notice must give all the other data required in a mineral applica¬ 
tion, by which parties may be put on inquiry as to the land sought 
to be patented. The proofs submitted with applications must show 
clearly the character and extent of the improvements upon the 
premises. 

25. The proof of improvements must show their value to be not 
less than -five hundred dollars and that they were made by the appli¬ 
cant for patent or his grantors. This proof should consist of the 
affidavit of two or more disinterested witnesses. The annual expendi¬ 
ture to the amount of $100, required by section 2324, Revised Statutes, 
must be made upon placer as well as lode locations. 

26. Applicants for patent to a placer claim, who are also in posses¬ 
sion of a known vein or lode included therein, must state in their 
application that the placer includes such vein or lode. The published 
and posted notices must also include such statement. If veins or 
lodes lying within a placer location are owned by other parties, the 
fact should be distinctly stated in the application for patent and in 
all the notices. But in all cases, whether the lode is claimed or 
excluded, it must be surveyed and marked upon the plat, the field 
notes and plat giving the area of the lode claim or claims and the 
area of the placer separately. An application which omits to claim 
such known vein or lode must be construed as a conclusive declara¬ 
tion that the applicant has no right of possession to the vein or lode. 
Where there is no known lode or vein, the fact must appear by the 
affidavit of two or more witnesses. 

27. By section 2330 it is declared that no location of a placer claim, 
made after July 9, 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for 
any one person or association of persons, which location shall con¬ 
form to the United States survevs. 

28. Section 2331 provides that all placer-mining claims located 
after May 10, 1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable with the 
United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular sub¬ 
divisions of such surveys, and such locations shall not include more 
than twenty acres for each individual claimant. 

29. The foregoing provisions of law are construed to mean that 
after the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of a placer claim can be 
made to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, whatever may be the 
number of locators associated together, or whatever the local regula¬ 
tions of the district may allow; and that from and after May 10, 1872, 


35 


no location can exceed twenty acres for each individual participating 
therein; that is, a location by two persons can not exceed forty acres, 
and one by three persons can not exceed sixty acres. 

30. The regulations hereinbefore given as to the manner of mark¬ 
ing locations on the ground, and placing the same on record, must be 
observed in the case of placer locations so far as the same are applica¬ 
ble, the law requiring, however, that all placer mining claims located 
after May 10, 1872, shall conform as near as practicable with the 
United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular 
subdivisions of such surveys, whether the locations are upon surveyed 
or unsurveyed lands. 

Conformity to the public land surveys and the rectangular sub¬ 
divisions thereof will not be required where compliance with such re¬ 
quirement Avould necessitate the placing of the lines thereof upon 
other prior located claims or where the claim is surrounded by prior 
locations. . 

Where a placer location by one or two persons can be entirely in¬ 
cluded within a square forty-acre tract, by three or four persons 
within two square forty-acre tracts placed end to end, by five or six 
persons within three square forty-acre tracts and by seven or eight 
persons within four square forty-acre tracts, such locations will be 
regarded as within the requirements where strict conformity is im¬ 
practicable. 

Whether a placer location conforms reasonably with the legal sub¬ 
divisions of the public surveys is a question of fact to be determined 
in each case and no location will be passed to patent without satisfac¬ 
tory evidence in this regard. Claimants should bear in mind that it 
is the policy of the Government to have all entries whether of agricul¬ 
tural or mineral lands as compact and regular in form as reasonably 
practicable, and that it will not permit or sanction entries or locations 
which cut the public domain into long narrow strips or grossly irreg¬ 
ular or fantastically shaped tracts. (Snow Flake Fraction Placer 37 
L. D., 250.) 


REGULATIONS UNDER SALINE ACT. 

31. Under the act approved January 31, 1901, extending the min¬ 
ing laws to saline lands, the provisions of the law relating to placer- 
mining claims are extended to all States and Territories and the dis¬ 
trict of Alaska, so as to permit the location and purchase thereunder 
of all unoccupied public lands coiftaining salt springs, or deposits of 
salt in any form, and chiefly valuable therefor, with the proviso, 
“ That the same person shall not locate or enter more than one claim 
hereunder.” 

32. Rights obtained b} r location under the placer-mining laws are 
assignable, and the assignee may make the entry in his own name; so, 
under this act a person holding as assignee may make entry in his 
own name: Provided , He has not held under this act, at any time, 
either as locator or entryman, any other lands; his right is exhausted 
by having held under this act any particular tract, either as locator 
or entryman, either as an individual or as a member of an associa¬ 
tion. It follows, therefore, that no application for patent or entry, 
made under this act, shall embrace more than one single location. 


36 


33. In order that the conditions imposed by the proviso, as set forth 
in the above paragraph, may duly appear, the application for patent 
must contain or be accompanied by a specific statement under oath by 
each person whose name appears therein that he never lias, either as 
an individual or as a member of an association, located or entered any 
other lands under the provisions of this act. The application for 
patent should also be accompanied by a showing under oath, fully 
disclosing the qualifications as defined by the proviso, of the appli¬ 
cants’ predecessors in interest. (As amended June 4, 1912.) 

PROCEDURE TO OBTAIN PATENT TO MINERAL LANDS. 

Lode Claims. 

34. The claimant is required, in the first place, to have a correct 
survey of his claim made under authority of the surveyor-general of 
the State or Territory in which the claim lies, such survey to show 
with accuracy the exterior surface boundaries of the claim, which 
boundaries are required to be distinctly marked by monuments on 
the ground. Four plats and one copy of the original field notes in 
each case will be prepared by the surveyor-general; one plat and the 
original field notes to be retained in the office of the surveyor-general; 
one copy of the plat to be given the claimant for posting upon the 
claim; one plat and a copy of the field notes to be given the claimant 
for filing with the proper register, to be finally transmitted by that 
officer, with other papers in the case, to this office, and one plat to be 
sent by the surveyor-general to the register of the proper land dis¬ 
trict, to be retained on his files for future reference. As there is no 
resident surveyor-general for the State of Arkansas, applications for 
the survey of mineral claims in said State should be made to the Com¬ 
missioner of this office, who, under the law, is ex officio the U. S. 
surveyor-general. (See instructions of July 29, 1911, p. 67.) 

35. The survey and plat of mineral claims required to be filed in 
the proper land office with application for patent must be made sub¬ 
sequent to the recording of the location of the claim (if the laws of 
the State or Territory or the regulations of the mining district require 
the notice of location to be recorded), and when the original location 
is made by survey of a United States mineral surveyor such location 
survey can not be substituted for that required by the statute, as 
above indicated. 

36. The surveyors-general should designate all surveyed mineral 
claims by a progressive series of numbers, beginning with survey No. 
37, irrespective as to whether they are situated on surveyed or unsur¬ 
veyed lands, the claim to be so designated at date of issuing the order 
therefor, in addition to the local designation of the claim; it being 
required in all cases that the plat and field notes of the survey of a 
claim must, in addition to the reference to permanent objects in the 
neighborhood, describe the locus of the claim with reference to the 
lines of public surveys by a line connecting a corner of the claim with 
the nearest public corner of the United States surveys, unless such 
claim be on unsurveyed lands at a distance of more than two miles 
from such public corner, in which latter case it should be connected 
with a United States mineral monument. Such connecting line must 
not be more than two miles in length, and should be measured on the 
ground direct between the points, or calculated from actually sur- 

\ 


37 


veyed traverse lines if the nature of the country should not permit 
direct measurement. If a regularly established survey corner is 
within two miles of a claim situated on unsurveyed lands, the connec¬ 
tion should be made with such corner in preference to a connection 
with, a United States mineral monument. The connecting line or 
traverse line must be surveyed by the mineral surveyor at the time of 
his making the particular survey and be made a part thereof. 

37. (a) Promptly upon the approval of a mineral survey the sur¬ 
veyor-general will advise both this office and the appropriate local 
land office, by letter (Form 4—286), of the date of approval, number 
of the survey, name and area of the claim, name and survey number 
of each approved mineral survey with which actually in conflict, 
name and address of the applicant for survey, and name of the min¬ 
eral surveyor who made the survey; and will also briefly describe 
therein the locus of the claim, specifying each legal subdivision or 
portion thereof, when upon surveyed lands, covered in whole or in 
part by the survey; but hereafter no segregation of any such claim 
upon the official township-survey records will be made until mineral 
entry has been made and approved for patent, unless otherwise 
directed by this office. 

(b) Upon application to make agricultural entry of the residue qf 
any original lot or legal subdivision of forty acres, reduced by min¬ 
ing claims for which patent applications have been filed and which 
residue has been already reallotted in accordance therewith, the local 
officers will accept and approve the application as usual, if found to 
be regular. When such an application is filed for any such original 
lot or subdivision, reduced in available area by duly asserted mining 
claims but not yet relotted accordingly, the local officers will promptly 
advise this office thereof; and will also report and identify any pend¬ 
ing application for mineral patent affecting such subdivision which 
the agricultural applicant does not desire to contest. The surveyor- 
general will thereupon be advised by this office of such mining claims, 
or portions thereof, as are proper to be segregated, and directed to at 
once prepare, upon the usual drawing-paper township blank, diagram 
of amended township survey of such original lot or legal forty-acre 
subdivision so made fractional by such mineral segregation, designat¬ 
ing the agricultural portion by appropriate lot number, beginning 
with No. 1 in each section and giving the area of each lot, and will 
forthwith transmit one approved copy to the local land office and one 
to this office. In the meantime the local officers will accept the agri¬ 
cultural application (if no other objection appears), suspend it with 
reservation of all rights of the applicant if continuously asserted by 
him, and upon receipt of amended township diagram will approve the 
application (if then otherwise satisfactory) as of the date of filing, 
corrected to describe the tract as designated in the amended survey. 

( c ) The register and receiver will allow no agricultural claim for 
any portion of an original lot or legal forty-acre subdivision, where 
the reduced area is made to appear by reason of approved surveys of 
mining claims and for which applications for patent have not been 
filed, until there is submitted by such agricultural applicant a satis¬ 
factory showing that such surveyed claims are in fact mineral in 
character; and applications to have lands asserted to be mineral, or 
mining locations, segregated bv survey, with the view to agricultural 
appropriation of the remainder, will be made to the register and 


38 


receiver for submission to the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, for his consideration and direction, and must be supported by 
the affidavit of the party in interest, duly corroborated by two or 
more disinterested persons, or by such other or further evidence as 
may be required in any case, that the lands sought to be segregated 
as mineral are in fact mineral in character; otherwise, in the absence 
of satisfactory showing in any such case, such original lot or legal 
subdivision will be subject to agricultural appropriation only. When 
any such showing shall be found to be satisfactory and the necessary 
survey is had, amended township diagram will be required and made 
as prescribed in the preceding section. 

38. The following particulars should be observed in the survey of 
every mining claim: 

(i) The exterior boundaries of the claim, the number of feet 
claimed along the vein, and, as nearly as can be ascertained, the direc¬ 
tion of the vein, and the number of feet claimed on the vein in each 
direction from the point of discovery or other well-defined place on 
the claim should be represented on the plat of survey and in the field 
notes. 


(2) The intersection of the lines of the survey with the lines of 
conflicting prior surveys should be noted in the field notes and repre¬ 
sented upon the plat. 

(3) Conflicts with unsurveyed claims, where the applicant for sur¬ 
vey does not claim the area in conflict, should be shown by actual 
survey. 

(4) The total area of the claim embraced by the exterior bounda¬ 
ries shoidd be stated, and also the area in conflict with each intersect¬ 
ing survey, substantially as follows: 

Acres. 


Total area of claim_10. 50 

Area in conflict with survey No. 302_ 1. 56 

Area in conflict with survey No. 948_ 2. 33 

Area in conflict with Mountain Maid lode mining claim, unsurveyed_ 1. 48 


It does not follow that because mining surveys are required to exhibit 
aT conflicts with prior surveys the areas of conflict are to be excluded. 
The field notes and plat are made a part of the application for patent, 
and care should be taken that the description does not inadvertently 
exclude portions intended to be retained. The application for patent 
should state the portions to be excluded in express terms. 

39. The claimant is then required to post a copy of the plat of such 
survey in a conspicuous place upon the claim, together with notice of 
his intention to apply for a patent therefor, which notice will give 
the date of posting, the name of the claimant, the name of the claim, 
the number of the survey, the mining district and county, and the 
names of adjoining and conflicting claims as shown by the plat sur¬ 
vey. Too much care can not be exercised in the preparation of this 
notice, inasmuch as the data therein are to be repeated in the other 
notices required b} r the statute, and upon the accuracy and complete¬ 
ness of these notices will depend, in a great measure, the regularity 
and validity of the proceedings for patent. 





39 


40. After posting the said plat and notice upon the premises, the 
claimant will file with the proper register and receiver a copy of such 
plat and the field notes of survey of the claim, accompanied by the affi¬ 
davit of at least two credible witnesses that such plat and notice are 
posted conspicuously upon the claim, giving the date and place of 
such posting; a copy of the notice so posted to be attached to and 
form a part of said affidavit. 

41. Accompanying the field notes so filed must be the sworn state¬ 
ment of the claimant that he has the possessory right to the premises 
therein described, in virtue of a compliance by himself (and by his 
grantors, if he claims by purchase) with the mining rules, regulations, 
and customs of the mining district, State, or Territory in which the 
claim lies, and with the mining laws of Congress; such sworn state¬ 
ment to narrate briefly, but as clearly as possible, the facts constitut¬ 
ing such compliance, the origin of his possession and the basis of his 
claim to a patent. The vein or lode must be fully described, the 
description to include a statement as to the kind and character of 
mineral, the extent thereof, whether ore has been extracted and of 
what amount and value and such other facts as will support the 
applicant’s allegation that the claim contains a valuable mineral 
deposit. 

42. (See Addenda, page 69, for regulation 42 as amended January 
9, 1912.) 

43. In the event of the mining records in any case having been 
destroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit of the fact should be 
made, and secondary evidence of possessory title will be received, 
which inav consist of the affidavit of the claimant, supported by those 
of any other parties cognizant of the facts relative to his location, 
occupancy, possession, improvements, &e.; and in such case of lost 
records, any deeds, certificates of location or purchase, or other evi¬ 
dence which may be in the claimant’s possession and tend to establish 
his claim, should be filed. 

44. Before approving for publication any notice of an application 
for mineral patent, local officers will be particular to see that it in¬ 
cludes no land which is embraced in a prior or pending application 
for patent or entry, or for any land embraced in a railroad selection, 
or for which publication is pending or has been made bv any other 
claimants, and if, in their opinion, after investigation, it should ap¬ 
pear that notice of a mineral application should not, for this or other 
reasons, be approved for publication, they should formally reject the 
same, giving the reasons therefor, and allow the applicant 30 days 
for appeal to this office under the Rules of Practice. (As amended 
August 9, 1911.) 

Local officers will give prompt and appropriate notice to the rail¬ 
road grantee of the filing of every application for mineral patent 
which embraces any portion of an odd-numbered section of surveyed 
lands within the primary limits of a railroad land grant, and of 


40 


every such application embracing any portion of unsurveyed lands 
within such limits (except as to any such application which embraces 
a portion or portions of those ascertained or prospective odd-num¬ 
bered sections only, within the limits of the grant in Montana and 
Idaho to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which have been 
classified as mineral under the act of February 20, 1895, without pro¬ 
test by the company within the time limited by the statute or the 
mineral classification whereof has been approved). 

Should the railroad grantee file protest and apply for a hearing to 
determine the character of the land involved in any such application 
for mineral patent, proceedings thereunder will be had in the usual 
manner. 

Any application for mineral patent, however, which embraces lands 
previously listed or selected by a railroad company will be disposed 
of as provided by the first section of this paragraph, and the appli¬ 
cant afforded opportunity to protest and apply for a hearing or to 
appeal. 

Notice should be given to the duly authorized representative of the 
railroad grantee, in accordance with rule IT of Practice. When the 
claims applied for are upon unsurveyed land, the burden of proving 
that they are situate within prospective odd-numbered sections will 
rest upon the railroad. 

Evidence of service of notice should be filed with the record in each 
case. 

45. Upon the receipt of these papers, if no reason appears for 
rejecting the application, the register will, at the expense of the 
claimant (who must furnish the agreement of the publisher to hold 
applicant for patent alone responsible for charges of publication), 
publish a notice of such application for the period of sixty days in a 
newspaper published nearest to the claim, and will post a copy of 
such notice in his office for the same period. When the notice is pub¬ 
lished in a weekly newspaper, nine consecutive insertions are neces¬ 
sary; when in a daily newspaper, the notice must appear in each 
issue for sixty-one consecutive issues. In both cases the first day of 
issue must be excluded in estimating the period of sixty days. 

46. The notices so published and posted must embrace all the data 
given in the notice posted upon the claim. In addition to such data 
the published notice must further indicate the locus of the claim by 
giving the connecting line, as shown by the field notes and plat, 
between a corner of the claim and a United States mineral monu¬ 
ment or a corner of the public survey, and thence the boundaries of 
the claim bv courses and distances. 

47. The register shall publish the notice of application for patent 
in a paper of established character and general circulation, to be by 
him designated as being the newspaper published nearest the land. 

48. The claimant at the time of filing the application for patent, 
or at any time within the sixty days of publication, is required to file 
with the register a certificate of the surveyor-general that not less 
than five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or im¬ 
provements made, by the applicant or his grantors, upon each loca¬ 
tion embraced in the application, or if the application embraces 
several contiguous locations held in common, that an amount equal 
to five hundred dollars for each location has been so expended upon, 
and for the benefit of, the entire group; that tlje plat filed by the 


41 


claimant is correct; that the field notes of the survey, as filed, furnish 
such an accurate description of the claim as will, if incorporated in a 
patent, serve to fully identify the premises, and that such reference is 
made therein to natural objects or permanent monuments as will per¬ 
petuate and fix the locus thereof: Provided , That as to all applica¬ 
tions for patents made and passed to entry before July 1, 1898, or 
which are by protests or adverse claims prevented from being passed 
to entry before that time, where the application embraces several loca¬ 
tions held in common, proof of an expenditure of five hundred dollars 
upon the group will be sufficient, and an expenditure of that amount 
need not be shown to have been made upon, or for the benefit of, each 
location embraced in the application. 

49. The surveyor-general may derive his information upon which 
to base his certificate as to the value of labor expended or improve¬ 
ments made from the mineral surveyor who makes the actual survey 
and examination upon the premises, and such mineral surveyor should 
specify with particularity and full detail the character and extent 
of such improvements, but further or other evidence may be required 
in any case. 

50. It will be convenient to have this certificate indorsed by the 
surveyor-general, both upon the plat and field notes of survey filed by 
the claimant as aforesaid. 

51. After the sixty days’ period of newspaper publication has ex¬ 
pired, the claimant will furnish from the office of publication a sworn 
statement that the notice was published for the statutory period, 
giving the first and last day of such publication, and his own affidavit 
showing that the plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicuously 
posted upon the claim sought to be patented during said sixty days’ 
publication, giving the dates. 

52. Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, if no adverse 
claim was filed in his office during the period of publication, and no 
other objection appears, permit the claimant to pay for the land to 
which he is entitled at the rate of five dollars for each acre and five 
dollars for each fractional part of an acre, except as otherwise 
provided by law, the receiver issuing the usual receipt therefor. 
The claimant wfill also make a sworn statement of all charges and fees 
paid by him for publication and surveys, together with all fees and 
money paid the register and receiver of the land office, after which 
the complete record w r ill be forwarded to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office and a patent issued thereon if found regular. 

53. At any time prior to the issuance of patent protest may be filed 
against the patenting of the claim as applied for, upon any ground 
tending to show that the applicant has failed to comply with the law 
in any matter essential to a valid entry under the patent proceedings. 
Such protest can not, however, be made the means of preserving a 
surface conflict lost by failure to adverse or lost by the judgment of 
the court in an adverse suit. One holding a present joint interest in 
a mineral location included in an application for patent who is ex¬ 
cluded from the application, so that his interest would not be pro¬ 
tected by the issue of patent thereon, may protest against the issuance 
of a patent as applied for, setting forth in such protest the nature 
and extent of his interest in such location, and such a protestant will 
be deemed a party in interest entitled to appeal. This results from 
the holding that a coowner excluded from an application for patent 


42 


does not have an “adverse” claim within the meaning of sections 
2325 and 2326 of the Revised Statutes. (See Turner v. Sawyer, 150 
XL S., 578-586.) 

54. Any party applying for patent as trustee must disclose fully 
the nature of the trust and the name of the cestui que trust / and such 
trustee, as well as the beneficiaries, must furnish satisfactory proof of 
citizenship; and the names of beneficiaries, as well as that of the trus¬ 
tee, must be inserted in the final certificate of entry. 

55. The annual expenditure of one hundred dollars in labor or im¬ 
provements on a mining claim, required by section 2324 of the Revised 
Statutes, is solely a matter between rival or adverse claimants to the 
same mineral land, and goes only to the right of possession, the deter¬ 
mination of which is committed exclusively to the courts. 

56. The failure of an applicant for patent to a mining claim to 
prosecute his application to completion, by filing the necessary proofs 
and making payment for the land, within a reasonable time after the 
expiration of the period of publication of notice of the application, or 
after the termination of adverse proceedings in the courts, constitutes 
a waiver by the applicant of all rights obtained by the earlier pro¬ 
ceedings upon the application. 

;YT. The proceedings necessary to the completion of an application 
for patent to a mining claim, against which an adverse claim or pro¬ 
test has been filed, if taken by the applicant at the first opportunity 
afforded therefor under the law and departmental practice, will be as 
effective as if taken at the date when, but for the adverse claim or 
protest, the proceedings on the application could have been completed. 

Placer Claims. 

58. The proceedings to obtain patents for placer claims, including 
all forms of mineral deposits excepting veins of quartz or other rock 
in jfiace, are similar to the proceedings prescribed for obtaining pat¬ 
ents for vein or lode claims; but where a placer claim shall be upon 
surveyed lands, and conforms to legal subdivisions, no further survey 
or plat will be required. Where placer claims can not be conformed 
to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed 
lands. 

59. The proceedings for obtaining patents for veins or lodes hav¬ 
ing already been fully given, it will not be necessary to repeat them 
here, it being thought that careful attention thereto by applicants 
and the local officers will enable them to act understanding^ in the 
matter, and make such slight modifications in the notice, or other¬ 
wise, as may be necessary in view of the different nature of the two 
classes of claims; the price of placer claims being fixed, however, at 
two dollars and fifty cents per acre or fractional part of an acre. 

60. In placer applications, in addition to the recitals necessary in 
and to both vein or lode and placer applications, the placer applica¬ 
tion should contain, in detail, such data as will support the claim 
that the land applied for is placer ground containing valuable min¬ 
eral deposits not in vein or lode formation and that title is sought 
not to control water courses or to obtain valuable timber but in good 
faith because of the mineral therein. This statement, of course, must 


43 


depend upon the character of the deposit and the natural features of 
the ground, but the following details should be covered as fully as 
possible: If the claim be for a deposit of placer gold, there must be 
stated the yield per pan, or cubic yard, as shown by prospecting and 
development work, distance to bedrock, formation and extent of the 
deposit, and all other facts upon which he bases his allegation that 
the claim is valuable for its deposits of placer gold. If it be a build¬ 
ing stone or other deposit than gold claimed under the placer laws, 
he must describe fully the kind, nature, and extent of the deposit, 
stating the reasons why same is by him regarded as a valuable min¬ 
eral claim. He will also be required to describe fully the natural 
features of the claim; streams, if any, must be fully described as to 
their course, amount of water carried, fall within the claim; and he 
must state kind and amount of timber and other vegetation thereon 
and adaptability to mining or other uses. 

If the claim be all placer ground, that fact must be stated in the 
application and corroborated by accompanying proofs; if of mixed 
placers and lodes, it should be so set out, with a description of all 
known lodes situated within the boundaries of the claim. A specific 
declaration, such as is required by section 2333, Revised Statutes, 
must be furnished as to each lode intended to be claimed. All other 
known lodes are, by the silence of the applicant excluded by law 
from all claim by him, of whatsoever nature, possessory or otherwise. 

While this data is required as a part of the mineral surveyor’s 
report under paragraph 167, in case of placers taken by special" sur¬ 
vey, it is proper that the application for patent incorporate these 
facts under the oath of the claimant. 

Inasmuch as in case of claims taken by legal subdivisions, no 
report by a mineral surveyor is required, the claimant, in his appli¬ 
cation in addition to the data above required, should describe in 
detail the shafts, cuts, tunnels, or other workings claimed as im¬ 
provements, giving their dimensions, value, and the course and dis¬ 
tance thereof to the nearest corner of the public surveys. 

As prescribed by paragraph 25, this statement as to the descrip¬ 
tion and value of the improvements must be corroborated by the 
affidavits of two disinterested witnesses. 

Applications awaiting entry, wffiether published or not, must be 
made to conform to these regulations, with respect to proof as to 
the character of the land. Entries already made will be suspended 
for such additional proofs as may be deemed necessary in each case. 

Local land officers are instructed that if the proofs submitted in 
placer applications under this paragraph are not satisfactory as 
showing the land as a whole to be placer in character, or if the claims 
impinge upon or embrace water courses or bodies of water, and thus 
raise a doubt as to the bona fides of the location and application, or 
the character and extent of the deposit claimed thereunder, to call 
for further evidence, or if deemed necessary, request the specific atr 
tention of the Chief of Field Service thereto in connection with the 
usual notification to him under the circular instructions of April 24, 
1907, and suspend further action on the application until a report 
thereon is received from the field officer. 


44 


MILL SITES. 

61. Land entered as a mill site must be shown to be nonmineral. 
Mill sites are simply auxiliary to the working of mineral claims, and 
as section 2337, which provides for the patenting of mill sites, is 
embraced in the chapter of the Revised Statutes relating to mineral 
lands, they are therefore included in this circular. 

02. To avail themselves of this provision of law, parties holding 
the possessory right to a vein or lode claim, and to a piece of nonmin¬ 
eral land not contiguous thereto for mining or milling purposes, not 
exceeding the quantity allowed for such purpose by section 2337, or 
prior laws, under which the land was appropriated, the proprietors 
of such vein or lode may file in the proper land office their application 
for a patent, under oath, in manner already set forth herein, which 
application, together with the plat and field notes, may include, 
embrace, and describe, in addition to the vein or lode claim, such non¬ 
contiguous mill site, and after due proceedings as to notice, etc., a 
patent will be issued conveying the same as one claim. The owner of 
a patented lode may, by an independent application, secure a mill 
site if good faith is manifest in its use or'occupation in connection 
with the lode and no adverse claim exists. 

63. YThere the original survey includes a lode claim and also a mill 
site the lode claim should be described in the plat and field notes as 
u Sur. No. 37, A,” and the mill site as “ Sur. No. 37, B,” or whatever 
may be its appropriate numerical designation; the course and distance 
from a corner of the mill site to a corner of the lode claim to be inva¬ 
riably given in such plat and field notes, and a copy of the plat and 
notice of application for patent must be conspicuously posted upon 
the mill site as well as upon the vein or lode claim for the statutory 
period of sixty days. In making the entry no separate receipt or 
certificate need be issued for the mill site, but the whole area of both 
lode and mill site will be embraced in one entry, the price being five 
dollars for each acre and fractional part of an acre embraced by such 
lode and mill-site claim. 

64. In case the owner of a quartz mill or reduction works is not the 
owner or claimant of a vein or lode claim the law permits him to 
make application therefor in the same manner prescribed herein for 
mining claims, and after due notice and proceedings, in the absence 
of a valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for his mill 
site at said price per acre. 

65. In every case there must be satisfactory proof that the land 
claimed as a mill site is not mineral in character, which proof may, 
where the matter is unquestioned, consist of the sworn statement of 
two or more persons capable, from acquaintance with the land, to 
testify understandingly. 


CITIZENSHIP. 

66. The proof necessary to establish the citizenship of applicants 
for mining patents must be made in the following manner: In case 
of an incorporated company, a certified copy of their charter or cer¬ 
tificate of incorporation must be filed. In case of an association of 
persons unincorporated, the affidavit of their duly authorized agent, 
made upon his own knowledge or upon information and belief, setting 


45 


forth the residence of each person forming such association, must be 
submitted. This affidavit must be accompanied by a power of attor¬ 
ney from the parties forming such association, authorizing the person 
who makes the affidavit of citizenship to act for them in the matter 
of their application for patent. 

GT. In case of an individual or an association of individuals who 
do not appear by their duly authorized agent, the affidavit of each 
applicant, showing whether he is a native or naturalized citizen, when 
and where born, and his residence, will be required. 

68. In case an applicant has declared his intention to become a 
citizen or has been naturalized, his affidavit must show the date, place, 
and the court before which he declared his intention, or from which 
his certificate of citizenship issued, and present residence. 

69. The affidavit of the claimant as to his citizenship may be taken 
before the register or receiver, or any other officer authorized to 
administer oaths within the land districts; or, if the claimant is 
residing beyond the limits of the district, the affidavit may be taken 
before the clerk of any court of record or before any notary public 
of any State or Territory. 

70. If citizenship is established by the testimony of disinterested 
persons, such testimony may be taken at any place before any person 
authorized to administer oaths, and whose official character is duly 
verified. 

71. No entry will be allowed until the register has satisfied him¬ 
self, by careful examination, that proper proofs have been filed upon 
the points indicated in the law and official regulations. Transfers 
made subsequent to the filing of the application for patent will not 
be considered, but entry will be allowed and patent issued in all cases 
in the name of the applicant for patent, the title conveyed by the 
patent, of course, in each instance inuring to the transferee of such 
applicant where a transfer has been made pending the application 
for patent. 

72. The mineral entries will be given the current serial numbers 
according to the provisions of the circular of June 10, 1908, whether 
the same are of lode or of placer claims or of mill sites. 

73. In sending up the papers in a case the register must not omit 
certifying to the fact that the notice was posted in his office for the 
full period of sixty days, such certificate to state distinctly when such 
posting was done and how long continued. The schedule of papers, 
form 4-252f, should accompany the returns with all mineral applica¬ 
tions and entries allowed. 

POSSESSORY RIG-HT. 

74. The provisions of section 2332, Revised Statutes, will greatly 
lessen the burden of proof, more especially in the case of old claims 
located many years since, the records of which, in many cases, have 
been destroyed by fire, or lost in other ways during the lapse of time, 
but concerning the possessory right to which all controversy or litiga¬ 
tion has long been settled. 

75. When an applicant desires to make his proof of possessory 
right in accordance with this provision of law, he will not be required 


46 


to produce evidence of location, copies of conveyances, or abstracts of 
title, as in other cases, but will be required to furnish a duly certified 
copy of the statute of limitation of mining claims for the State or 
Territory, together with his sworn statement giving a clear and suc¬ 
cinct narration of the facts as to the origin of his title, and likewise as 
to the continuation of his possession of the mining ground covered by 
his application; the area thereof; the nature and extent of the min¬ 
ing that has been done thereon; whether there has been any opposi¬ 
tion to his possession, or litigation with regard to his claim, and if 
so, when the same ceased; whether such cessation was caused by 
compromise or by judicial decree, and any additional facts within the 
claimant’s knowledge having a direct bearing upon his possession 
and bona tides which he may desire to submit in support of his claim. 

7G. There should likewise be filed a certificate, under seal of the 
court having jurisdiction of mining cases within the judicial district 
embracing the claim, that no suit or action of any character whatever 
involving the right of possession to any portion of the claim applied 
for is pending, and that there has been no litigation before said court 
affecting the title to said claim or any part thereof for a period equal 
to the time fixed by the statute of limitations for mining claims in 
the State or Territory as aforesaid other than that wdiich has been 
finally decided in favor of the claimant. 

77. The claimant should support his narrative of facts relative to 
his possession, occupancy, and improvements by corroborative testi¬ 
mony of any disinterested person or persons of credibility who may be 
cognizant of the facts in the case and are capable of testifying under- 
standingly in the premises. 

ADVERSE CLAIMS. 

78. An adverse claim must be filed with the register and receiver 
of the land office where the application for patent is filed or with the 
register and receiver of the district in which the land is situated at 
the time of filing the adverse claim. It must be on the oath of the 
adverse claimant, or it may be verified by the oath of any duly author¬ 
ized agent or attorney in fact of the adverse claimant cognizant of the 
facts stated. 

79. Where an agent or attorney in fact verifies the adverse claim, 
he must distinctly swear that he is such agent or attorney, and accom¬ 
pany his affidavit by proof thereof. 

80. The agent or attorney in fact must make the affidavit in verifi¬ 
cation of the adverse claim within the land district where the claim is 
situated. 

81. The adverse claim so filed must fully set forth the nature and 
extent of the interference or conflict; whether the adverse party 
claims as a purchaser for valuable consideration or as a locator. If 
the former, a certified copy of the original location, the original con¬ 
veyance, a duly certified copy thereof, or an abstract of title from the 
office of the proper recorder should be furnished, or if the transaction 
was a merely verbal one he will narrate the circumstances attending 
the purchase, the date thereof, and the amount paid, which facts 
should be supported by the affidavit of one or more witnesses, if any 
were present at the time, and if he claims as a locator he must file 


a duly certified copy of the location from the office of the proper 
recorder. 

82. In order that the “boundaries ” and “extent ” of the claim may 
lie shown, it will be incumbent upon the adverse claimant to file a plat 
showing his entire claim, its relative situation or position with the one 
against which he claims, and the extent of the conflict: Provided , 
however , That if the application for patent describes the claim by 
legal subdivisions, the adverse claimant, if also claiming by legal sub¬ 
divisions, may describe his adverse claim in the same manner without 
further survey or plat. If the claim is not described by legal subdi¬ 
visions, it will generally be more satisfactory if the plat thereof is 
made from an actual survey by a mineral surveyor, and its correctness 
officially certified thereon by him. 

83. Upon the foregoing being filed within the sixt} 7 days’ period of 
publication, the register, or in his absence the receiver, will immedi¬ 
ately give notice in writing to the parties that such adverse claim has 
been filed, informing them that the party who filed the adverse claim 
will be required within thirty days from the date of such filing to 
commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to deter¬ 
mine the question of right of possession, and to prosecute the same 
with reasonable diligence to final judgment, and that, should such 
adverse claimant fail to do so, his adverse claim will be considered 
waived and the application for patent be allowed to proceed upon its 
merits. 

84. When an adverse claim is filed as aforesaid, the register or 
receiver will indorse upon the same the precise date of filing, and pre¬ 
serve a record of the date of notifications issued thereon; and there¬ 
after all proceedings on the application for patent will be stayed, with 
the exception of the completion of the publication and posting of 
notices and plat and the filing of the necessary proof thereof, until 
the controversy shall have been finally adjudicated in court or the 
adverse claim waived or withdrawn. 

85. Where an adverse claim has been filed and suit thereon com¬ 
menced within the statutory period and final judgment rendered 
determining the right of possession, it will not be sufficient to file 
with the register a certificate of the clerk of the court setting forth 
the facts as to such judgment, but the successful party must, before 
he is allowed to make entry, file a certified copy of the judgment roll, 
together with the other evidence required by section 2326, Revised 
Statutes. 

86. Where such suit has been dismissed, a certificate of the clerk of 
the court to that effect or a certified copy of the order of dismissal 
will be sufficient. 

87. After an adverse claim has been filed and suit commenced, a 
relinquishment or other evidence of abandonment of the adverse 
claim will not be accepted, but the case must be terminated and proof 
thereof furnished as required by the last two paragraphs. 

88. Where an adverse claim has been filed, but no suit commenced 
against the applicant for patent within the statutory period, a certifi¬ 
cate to that effect by the clerk of the State court having jurisdiction 
in the case, and also by the clerk of the district court of the United 
States for the district in which the claim is situated, will be required. 
(Amended, November 6, 1912.) 

65916°—12-4 



APPOINTMENT OF SURVEYORS FOR SURVEY OF; 
MINING- CLAIMS AND CHARGES. 


89. Section 2334 provides for the appointment of surveyors to sur¬ 
vey mining claims, and authorizes the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office to establish the rates to be charged for surveys and for 
newspaper publications. Under this authority of law the following 
rates have been established as the maximum charges for newspaper 
publications in mining cases: 

(1) Where a daily newspaper is designated the charge shall not 
exceed seven dollars for each ten lines of space occupied, and where 
a weekly newspaper is designated as the medium of publication five 
dollars for the same space will be allowed. Such charge shall be 
accepted as full payment for publication in each issue of the news¬ 
paper for the entire period required by law. 

It is expected that these notices shall not be so abbreviated as to 
curtail the description essential to a perfect notice, and the said rates 
established upon the understanding that they are to be in the usual 
body type used for advertisements. 

(2) For the publication of citations in contests or hearings involv¬ 
ing the character of lands the charges shall not exceed eight dollars 
for five publications in weekly newspapers or ten dollars for publica¬ 
tions in daily newspapers for thirty days. 

90. The surveyors-general of the several districts will, in pursu¬ 
ance of said law, appoint in each land district as many competent sur¬ 
veyors for the survey of mining claims as may seek such appointment, 
it being distinctly understood that all expenses of these notices and 
surveys are to be borne by the mining claimants and not by the United 
States. The statute provides that the claimant shall also be at lib¬ 
erty to employ any United States mineral surveyor to make the sur¬ 
vey. Each surveyor appointed to survey mining claims before enter¬ 
ing upon the duties of his office or appointment shall be required to 
enter into a bond of not less than $5,000 for the faithful performance 
of his duties. 

91. With regard to the platting of the claim and other office work 
in the surveyor-general’s office, that officer will make an estimate of 
the cost thereof, which amount the claimant will deposit with any 
assistant United States treasurer or designated depository in favor of 
the United States Treasurer, to be passed to the credit of the fund 
created by “ individual depositors for surveys of the public lands,” 
and file with the surveyor-general duplicate certificates of such de¬ 
posit in the usual manner. 

92. The surveyors-general will endeavor to appoint surveyors to 
survey mining claims so that one or more may be located in each 
mining district for the greater convenience of miners. 

93. The usual oaths will be required of these surveyors and their 
assistants as to the correctness of each survey executed by them. 

The duty of the surveyor ceases when he has executed the survey 
and returned the field notes and preliminary plat thereof with his 
report to the surveyor-general. He will not be allowed to prepare 
for the mining claimant the papers in support of an application for 
patent, or otherwise perform the duties of an attorney before the 
land office in connection with a mining claim. 


49 


The surveyors-general and local land officers are expected to report 
any infringement of this regulation to this office. 

94. Should it appear that excessive or exorbitant charges have been 
made by any surveyor or any publisher, prompt action will be taken 
with the view of correcting the abuse. 

FEES OF REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. 

_ ^ 

95. The fees payable to the register and receiver for filing and act¬ 
ing upon applications for mineral-land patents are five dollars to 
each officer, to be paid by the applicant for patent at the time of fil¬ 
ing, and the like sum of five dollars is payable to each officer by an 
adverse claimant at the time of filing his adverse claim. (Sec. 2238, 
R. S., par. 9.) 

[Paragraphs 96, 97, and 98 are superseded by the general circular 
instructions of June 10, 1908.] 

HEARINGS TO DETERMINE CHARACTER OF LANDS. 

99. The Rules of Practice in cases before the United States district 
land offices, the General Land Office, and the Department of the 
Interior will, so far as applicable, govern in all cases and proceedings 
arising in contests and hearings to determine the character of lands. 

100. Public land returned by the surveyor-general as mineral shall 
be withheld from entry as agricultural land until the presumption 
arising from such a return shall be overcome by testimony taken in 
the manner hereinafter described. 

* 

101. Hearings to determine the character of lands: 

(1) Lands returned as mineral by the surveyor-general. 

When such lands are sought to be entered as agricultural under 
laws which require the submission of final proof after due notice by 
publication and posting, the filing of the proper nonmineral affidavit 
in the absence of allegations that the land is mineral will be deemed 
sufficient as a preliminary requirement. A satisfactory showing as to 
character of land must be made when final proof is submitted. 

In case of application to enter, locate, or select such lands as agri¬ 
cultural, under laAvs in which the submission of final proof after due 
publication and posting is not required, notice thereof must first be 
given by publication for sixty days and posting in the local office 
during the same period, and affirmative proof as to the character of 
the land submitted. In the absence of allegations that the land is 
mineral, and upon compliance with this requirement, the entry, loca¬ 
tion, or selection will be allowed, if otherwise regular. 

(2) Lands returned as agricultural and alleged to be mineral in 
character. 

Where as against the claimed right to enter such lands as agricul¬ 
tural it is alleged that the same are mineral, or are applied for as 
mineral lands, the proceedings in this class of cases will be in the 
nature of a contest, and the practice will be governed by the rules in 
force in contest cases. 

[Paragraphs 102 to 104, inclusive, are superseded by appropriate 
instructions relative to nonmineral proofs in railroad, State, and 
forest lieu selections contained in separate circulars.] 


50 


105. At hearings to determine the character of lands the claimants 
and witnesses will be thoroughly examined with regard to the char¬ 
acter of the land; whether the same has been thoroughly prospected; 
whether or not there exists within the tract or tracts claimed any lode 
or vein of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinna¬ 
bar, lead, tin, or copper, or other valuable deposit which has ever 
been claimed, located, recorded, or worked; whether such work is 
entirely abandoned, or whether occasionally resumed; if such lode 
does exist, by whom claimed, under what designation, and in which 
subdivision of the land it lies; whether any placer mine or mines exist 
upon the land; if so, what is the character thereof—Whether of the 
shallow-surface description, or of the deep cement, blue lead, or gravel 
deposits; to what extent mining is carried on when water can be 
obtained, and what the facilities are for obtaining water for mining 
purposes; upon what particular ten-acre subdivisions mining has been 
done, and at what time the land was abandoned for mining purposes, 
if abandoned at all. In every case, where practicable, an adequate 
quantity or number of representative samples of the alleged mineral¬ 
bearing matter or material should be offered in evidence, with proper 
identification, to be considered in connection with the record, with 
which they will be transmitted upon each appeal that may be taken. 
Testimony may be submitted as to the geological formation and 
development of mineral on adjoining or adjacent lands and their 
relevancy. 

100. The testimony should also show the agricultural capacities of 
the land, what kind of crops are raised thereon, and the value thereof; 
the number of acres actually cultivated for crops of cereals or vege¬ 
tables, and within which particular ten-acre subdivision such crops 
are raised; also which of these subdivisions embrace the improve¬ 
ments, giving in detail the extent and value of the improvements, 
such as house, barn, vineyard, orchard, fencing, etc., and mining 
improvements. 

107. The testimony should be as full and complete as possible; and 
in addition to the leading points indicated above, where an attempt is 
made to prove the mineral character of lands which have been entered 
under the agricultural laws, it should show at what date, if at all, val¬ 
uable deposits of minerals were first known to exist on the lands. 

108. When the case comes before this office, such decision will be 
made as the law and the facts may justify. In cases where a survey is 
necessary to set apart the mineral from the agricultural land, "the 
proper party, at his own expense , will be required to have the work 
done by a reliable and competent surveyor to be designated by the 
surveyor-general. Application therefor must be made to the register 
and receiver, accompanied by description of the land to be segregated 
and the evidence of service upon the opposite party of notice of his 
intention to have such segregation made. The register and receiver 
will forward the same to this office, when the necessary instructions 
for the survey will be given. The survey in such case, where the 
claims to be segregated are vein or lode claims, must be executed in 
such manner as will conform to the requirements in section 2320, 
Revised Statutes, as to length and width and parallel end lines. 

109. Such survey when executed must be properly sworn to by the 
surveyor, either before a notary public, United States commissioner, 
officer of a court of record, or before the register or receiver, the 


51 


deponent's character and credibility to be properly certified to by 
the officer administering the oath. 

110. Upon the filing of the plat and field notes of such survey with 
the register and receiver, duly sworn to as aforesaid, they will trans¬ 
mit the same to the surveyor-general for his verification and ap¬ 
proval, who, if he finds the work correctly performed, will furnish 
authenticated copies of such plat and description both to the proper 
local land office and to this office, made upon the usual drawing-paper 
township blank. 

The copy of plat furnished the local office and this office must be a 
diagram verified by the surveyor-general, showing the claim or claims 
segregated, and designating the separate fractional agricultural tracts 
in each 40-acre legal subdivision by the proper lot number, beginning 
with No. 1 in each section, and giving the area in each lot, the same 
as provided in paragraph 37 in the survey of mining claims on sur¬ 
veyed lands. 

111. The fact that a certain tract of land is decided upon testimony 
to be mineral in character is by no means equivalent to an award of 
the land to a miner. In order to secure a patent for such land, he 
must proceed as in other cases, in accordance with the foregoing 
regulations. 

Blank forms for proofs in mineral cases are not furnished by the 
General Land Office. 

DISTRICT OF ALASKA. 

112. Section 13, act of May 14, 1898, according to native-born citi¬ 
zens of Canada “ the same mining rights and privileges ” in the dis¬ 
trict of Alaska as are accorded to citizens of the United States in 
British Columbia and the Northwest Territory by the laws of the 
Dominion of Canada, is not now and never has been operative, for 
the reason that the only mining rights and privileges granted to any 
person by the laws of the Dominion of Canada are those of leasing 
mineral lands upon the payment of a stated royalty, and the mining 
laws of the United States make no provision for such leases. 

113. For the sections of the act of June G, 1900, making further 
provision for a civil government for Alaska, which provide for the 
establishment of recording districts and the recording of mining loca¬ 
tions; for the making of rules and regulations by the miners and for 
the legalization of mining records; for the extension of the mining 
laws to the district of Alaska, and for the exploration and mining of 
tide lands and lands below low tide; and relating to the rights of 
Indians and persons conducting schools or missions, see page 21 of 
this circular. 

MINERAL LANDS WITHIN NATIONAL FORESTS. 

114. The act of June 4, 1897, provides that “ any mineral lands in 
any forest reservation which have been or which may be shown to be 
such, and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the 
United States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall 
continue to be subject to such location and entry,” notwithstanding 
the reservation. This makes mineral lands in the forest reserves 


subject to location and entry under the general mining laws in the 
usual manner. 

The act also provides that “ The Secretary of the Interior may 
permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, the use of timber 
and stone found upon such reservations, free of charge, by bona fide 
settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, 
fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and other domestic purposes, 
as may be needed by such persons for such purposes; such timber to 
be used within the State or Territory, respectively, where such reser¬ 
vations may be located.” 

Transfer of National Forests. 

Act of February 1, 1905 (33 Stat., 628.) 

The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture shall, from and 
after the passage of this act, execute or cause to be executed all laws 
affecting public lands heretofore or hereafter reserved under the 
provisions of section twenty-four of the act entitled “An act to repeal 
the timber-culture laws, and for other purposes,” approved March 
3, 1891, and acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof, after such 
lands have been so reserved, excepting such laws as affect the survey¬ 
ing, prospecting, locating, appropriating, entering, relinquishing, 
reconveying, certifying, or patenting of any of such lands. 

(For further information see Use Book—Forest Service.) 

SURVEYS OF MINING CLAIMS. 

General Provisions. 


115. Under section 2334, Revised Statutes, the U. S. surveyor- 
general “ may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands 
as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to 
survey mining claims.” 

116. Persons desiring such appointment should therefore file their 
applications with the surveyor-general for the district wherein 
appointment is asked, who will furnish all information necessary. 

117. All appointments of mineral surveyors must be submitted to 
the Commissioner of the General Land Office for approval. 

118. The surveyors-general have authority to suspend or revoke the 
commissions of mineral surveyors for cause. Before final action, 
however, the matter should be submitted to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office for approval. 

119. Such surveyors will be allowed the right of appeal from the 
action of the surveyor-general in the usual manner. Such appeal 
should be filed with the surveyor-general, who will at once transmit 
the same, with a full report, to the General Land Office. 

120. Neither the surveyor-general nor the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office has jurisdiction to settle differences, relative to 
the payment of charges for field work, between mineral surveyors 
and claimants. These are matters of private contract and must be 
enforced in the ordinary manner, i. e ., in the local courts. The 
Department has, however, authority to investigate charges affecting 


53 


tlio official actions of mineral surveyors, and will, on sufficient cause 
shown, suspend or revoke their appointment. 

121. The surveyors-general should appoint as many competent 
mineral surveyors as apply for appointment, in order that claimants 
may have a choice of surveyors, and be enabled to have their work 
done on the most advantageous terms. 

122. The schedule of charges for office work should be as low as is 
possible. No additional charges should be made for orders for 
amended surveys, unless the necessity therefor is clearly the fault of 
the claimant, or considerable additional office work results therefrom. 

123. [Omitted.] 

124. Mineral surveyors will address all official communications to 
the surveyor-general. They will, when a mining claim is the subject 
of correspondence, give the name and survey number. In replying 
to letters they will give the subject-matter and date of the letter. 
They will promptly notify the surveyor-general of any change in 
post-office address. 

125. Mineral surveyors should keep a complete record of each sur¬ 
vey made by them and the facts coming to their knowledge at the 
time, as well as copies of all their field notes, reports, and official cor¬ 
respondence, in order that such evidence may be readily produced 
when called for at any future time. Field notes and other reports 
must be written in a clear and legible hand or typewritten, in non¬ 
copying ink, and upon the proper blanks furnished gratuitously by 
the surveyor-general’s office upon application therefor. No inter¬ 
lineations or erasures will be allowed. 

126. No return by a mineral surveyor will be recognized as official 
unless it is over his signature as a United States mineral surveyor, 
and made in pursuance of a special order from the surveyor-general’s 
office. After he has received an order for survey he is required to 
make the survey and return correct field notes thereof to the surveyor- 
general’s office without delay. 

127. The claimant is required, in all cases, to make satisfactory 
arrangements with the surveyor for the payment for his services and 
those of his assistants in making the survey, as the United States will 
not be held responsible for the same. 

128. A mineral surveyor is precluded from acting, either directly 
or indirectly, as attorney in mineral claims. His duty in any partic¬ 
ular case ceases when he has executed the survey and returned the 
field notes and preliminary plat, with his report, to the surveyor- 
general. He will not be allowed to prepare for the mining claimant 
the papers in support of his application for patent, or otherwise per¬ 
form the duties of an attorney before the land office in connection 
with a mining claim. He is not permitted to combine the duties of 
surveyor and notary public in the same case by administering oaths to 
the parties in interest. It is preferable that both preliminary and 
final oaths of assistants should be taken before some officer duly 
authorized to administer oaths, other than the mineral surveyor. In 
cases, however, where great delay, expense, or inconvenience would 
result from a strict compliance with this rule, the mineral surveyor is 
authorized to administer the necessary oaths to his assistants, but in 
each case where this is done, he will submit to the proper surveyor- 
general a full written report of the circumstances which required his 


54 


stated action; otherwise he must have absolutely nothing to do with 
the case, except in his official capacity as surveyor. lie will not 
employ chainmen interested therein in any manner. 


Method of Survey. 

129. The survey made and returned must, in every case, be an 
actual survey on the ground in full detail, made by the mineral sur¬ 
veyor in person after the receipt of the order, and without reference 
to any knowledge he may have previously acquired by reason of 
having made the location survey or otherwise, and must show the 
actual facts existing at the time. This precludes him from calculat¬ 
ing the connections to corners of the public survey and location mon¬ 
uments, or any other lines of his survey through prior surveys made 
by others and substituting the same for connections or lines of the 
survey returned by him. The term survey in this paragraph applies 
not only to the usual field work, but also to the examinations required 
for the preparation of affidavits of five hundred dollars expenditure, 
descriptive reports on placer claims, and all other reports. 

130. The survey of a mining claim may consist of several contigu¬ 
ous locations, but such survey must, in conformity with statutory 
requirements, distinguish the several locations, and exhibit the bound¬ 
aries of each. The survey will be given but one number. 

131. The survey must be made in strict conformity with, or be 
embraced within, the lines of the location upon which the order is 
based. If the survey and location are identical, that fact must be 
clearly and distinctly stated in the field notes. If not identical, a 
bearing and distance must be given from each established corner of 
survey to the corresponding corner of the location, and the location 
corner must be fully described, so that it can be identified. The lines 
of the location, as found upon the ground, must be laid down upon 
the preliminary plat in such a manner as to contrast and show their 
relation to the lines of survey. 

132. In view of the principle that courses and distances must give 
way when in conflict with fixed objects and monuments, the surveyor 
will not, under any circumstances, change the corners of the location 
for the purpose of making them conform to the description in the 
record. If the difference from the location be slight, it may be 
explained in the field notes. 

133. No mining claim located subsequent to May 10, 1872, should 
exceed the statutory limit in width on each side of the center of vein 
or 1,500 feet in length, and all surveys must close within 50-100 feet 
in 1,000 feet, and the error must not be such as to make the location 
exceed the statutory limit, and in absence of other proof the discovery 
point is held to be the center of the vein on the surface. The course 
and length of the vein should be marked upon the plat. 

134. All mineral surveys must be made with a transit, with or 
without solar attachment, by which the meridian can be determined 
independently of the magnetic needle, and all courses must be re¬ 
ferred to the true meridian. The variation should be noted at each 
corner of the survey. The true course of at least one line of each 
survey must be ascertained by astronomical observations made at the 
time of the survey; the data for determining the same and details 
as to how these data were arrived at must be given. Or, in lieu of 
the foregoing, the survey must be connected with some line the true 


55 


course of which has been previously established beyond question, and 
in a similar manner, and, when such lines exist, it is desirable in all 
cases that they should be used as a proof of the accuracy of subse¬ 
quent work. 

135. Corner No. 1 of each location embraced in a survey must be 
connected by course and distance with nearest corner of the public 
survey or with a United States location monument, if the claim lies 
within two miles of such corner or monument. If both are within 
the required distance, the connection must be with the corner of the 
public survey. 

136. Surveys and connections of mineral claims may be made in 
suspended townships in the same manner as though the claims were 
upon unsurveyed land, except as hereinafter specified, by connecting 
them with independent mineral monuments. At the same time, the 
position of any public-land corner which may be found in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the claim should be noted, so that, in case of the release 
of the township from suspension, the position of the claim can be 
shown on the plat. 

137. A mineral survey must not be returned with its connection 
made only w T ith a corner of the public survey, where the survey of 
the township within which it is situated is under suspension, nor 
connected with a mineral monument alone, when situated within the 
limits of a township the regularity and correctness of the survey of 
wdiich is unquestioned. 

138. In making an official survey, corner No. 1 of each location 
must be established at the corner nearest the corner of the public 
survey or location monument, unless good cause is shown for its being 
placed otherwise. If connections are given to both a corner of the 
public survey and location monument, corners Nos. 1 should be placed 
at the corner nearest the corner of the public survey. When a 
boundary line of a claim intersects a section line, courses and distances 
from point of intersection to the Government corners at each end 
of the half mile of section line so intersected must be given. 

139. In case a survey is situated in a district where there are no 
corners of the public survey and no monuments within the prescribed 
limits, a mineral monument must be established, in the location of 
which the greatest care must be exercised to insure permanency as to 
site and construction. 

140. The site, when practicable, should be some prominent point, 
visible for a long distance from every direction, and should be so 
chosen that the permanency of the monument will not be endangered 
bv snow, rock, or landslides, or other natural causes. 

° 141. The monument should consist of a stone not less than 30 inches 
long, 20 inches wide, and 6 inches thick, set halfway in the ground, 
with a conical mound of stone 4 feet high and 6 feet base alongside. 
The letters U. S. L. M., followed by the consecutive number of the 
monument in the district, must be plainly chiseled upon the stone. If 
impracticable to obtain a stone of required dimensions, then a post 8 
feet long, 6 inches square, set 3 feet in the ground, scribed as for a 
stone monument, protected by a well-built conical mound of stone of 
not less than 3 feet high and 6 feet base around it, may be used. The 
exact point for connection must be indicated on the monument by an 
X chiseled thereon; if a post is used, then a tack must be driven into 
the post to indicate the point. 


56 


142. From the monument, connections by course and distance must 
be taken to two or three bearing trees or rocks, and to any well-known 
and permanent objects in the vicinity, such as the confluence of 
streams, prominent rocks, buildings, shafts, or mouths of adits. 
Bearing trees must be properly scribed B. T. and bearing rocks 
chiseled B. II., together with the number of the location monument; 
the exact point on the tree or stone to which the connection is taken 
should be indicated by a cross or other unmistakable mark. Bearings 
should also be taken to prominent mountain peaks, and the approxi¬ 
mate distance and direction ascertained from the nearest town or 
mining camp. A detailed description of the locating monument, 
with a topographical map of its location, should be furnished the 
office of the surveyor-general by the surveyor. 

143. Corners may consist of— 

First .—A stone at least 24 inches long set 12 inches in the ground, 
with a conical mound of stone 1^ feet high, 2 feet base, alongside. 

Second .—A post at least 3 feet long by 4 inches square, set 18 
inches in the ground and surrounded by a substantial mound of stone 
or earth. 

Third .—A rock in place. 

A stone should always be used for a corner when possible, and 
when so used the kind should be stated. 

144. All corners must be established in a permanent and workman¬ 
like manner, and the corner and survey number must be neatly 
chiseled or scribed on the sides facing the claim. The exact corner 
point must be permanently indicated on the corner. When a rock in 
place is used, its dimensions above ground must be stated and a cross 
chiseled at the exact corner point. 

145. In case the point for the corner be inaccessible or unsuitable a 
witness corner, which must be marked with the letters W. C. in addi¬ 
tion to the corner and survey number, should be established. The 
witness corner should be located upon a line of the survey and as near 
as possible to the true corner, with which it must be connected by 
course and distance. The reason why it is impossible or impracti¬ 
cable to establish the true corner must always be stated in the field 
notes, and in running the next course it should be stated whether the 
start is made from the true place for corner or from witness corner. 

146. The identity of all corners should be perpetuated by taking 
courses and distances to bearing trees, rocks, and other objects, as 
prescribed in the establishment of location monuments, and when no 
bearings are given it should be stated that no bearings are available. 
Permanent objects should be selected for bearings whenever possible. 

147. If an official mineral survey has been made in the vicinity, 
within a reasonable distance, a further connecting line should be run 
to some corner thereof; and in like manner all conflicting surveys and 
locations should be so connected, and the corner with which connec¬ 
tion is made in each case described. Such connections will be made 
and conflicts shown according to the boundaries of the neighboring 
or conflicting claims as each is marked, defined, and actually estab¬ 
lished upon the ground. The mineral surveyor will fully and specif¬ 
ically state in his return how and by what visible evidences he was 
able to identify on the ground the several conflicting surveys and 
those which appear according to their returned tie or boundary lines 
to conflict, if they were so identified, and report errors or discrepancies 
found by him in any such surveys. In the survey of contiguous 


57 


claims which constitute a consolidated group, where corners are com¬ 
mon, bearings should be mentioned but once. 

148. The mineral surveyor should note carefully all topographical 
features of the claim, taking distances on his lines to intersections 
with all streams, gulches, ditches, ravines, mountain ridges, roads, 
trails, etc., with their widths, courses, and other data that may be 
required to map them correctly. All municipal or private improve¬ 
ments, such as blocks, streets, and buildings, should be located. 

140. If, in running the exterior lines of a claim, the survey is found 
to conflict with the survey of another claim, the distances to the points 
of intersection, and the courses and distances along the line inter¬ 
sected from an established corner of such conflicting claim to such 
points of intersection, should be described in the field notes: Provided , 
That where a corner of the conflicting survey falls within the claim 
being surveyed, such corner should be selected from which to give the 
bearing, otherwise the corner nearest the intersection should be 
taken. The same rule should govern in the survey of claims embrac¬ 
ing two or more locations the lines of which intersect. 

150. A lode and mill-site claim in one survey will be distinguished 
by the letters A and B following the number of the survey. The cor¬ 
ners of the mill site will be numbered independently of those of the 
lode. Corner No. 1 of the mill site must be connected with a corner 
of the lode claim as well as with a corner of the public survey or 
United States location monument. 

151. When a placer claim includes lodes, or when several contigu¬ 
ous placer or lode locations are included as one claim in one survey, 
there must be given to the corners of each location constituting the 
same a separate consecutive numerical designation, beginning with 
corner No. 1 in each case. 

152. Throughout the description of the survey, after each reference 

to the lines or corners of a location, the name thereof must be given, 

and if unsurveyed, the fact stated. If reference is made to a location 

included in a prior official survey, the survey number must be given, 

followed bv the name of the location. Corners should be described 
•/ 

once only. 

153. The total area of each location and also the area in conflict 
with each intersecting survey or claim should be stated. But when 
locations embraced in one survey conflict with each other such con¬ 
flicts should only be stated in connection with the location from 
which the conflicting area is excluded. 

154. It should be stated particularly whether the claim is upon 
surveyed or unsurveyed public lands, giving in the former case the 
quarter section, township, and range in which it is located, and the 
section lines should be indicated by full lines and the quarter-section 
lines by dotted lines. 

155. The title-page of the field notes must contain the post-office 
address of the claimant or his authorized agent. 

156. In the mineral surveyor’s report of the value of the improve¬ 
ments all actual expenditures and mining improvements made by the 
claimant or his grantors, having a direct relation to the development 
of the claim, must be included in the estimate. 

157. The expenditures required may be made from the surface or 
in running a tunnel, drifts, or crosscuts for the development of the 
claim. Improvements of any other character, such as buildings, 


58 


machinery, or roadways, must be excluded from the estimate, unless 
it is shown clearly that they are associated with actual excavations, 
such as cuts, tunnels, shafts, etc., are essential to the practical develop¬ 
ment of and actually facilitate the extraction of mineral from the 
claim. 

158. All mining and other improvements claimed will be located by 
courses and distances from corners of the survey, or from points on 
the center or side lines, specifying with particularity and detail the 
dimensions and character of each, and the improvements upon each 
location should be numbered consecutively, the point of discovery 
being always No. 1. Improvements made by a former locator who 
has abandoned his claim can not be included in the estimate, but 
should be described and located in the notes and plat. 

159. In case of a lode and mill-site claim in the same survey the 
expenditure of five hundred dollars must be shown upon the lode 
claim. 

ICO. If the value of the labor and improvements upon a mineral 
claim is less than five hundred dollars at the time of survey, the 
mineral surveyor may file with the surveyor-general supplemental 
proof showing five hundred dollars expenditure made prior to the 
expiration of the period of publication. 

161. The mineral surveyor will return with his field notes a prelim- 
inary plat on blank sent to him for that purpose, protracted on a scale 
of two hundred feet to an inch, if practicable. In preparing plats the 
top is north. Copy of the calculations of areas by double meridian 
distances and of all triangulations or traverse lines must be furnished. 
The lines of the claim surveyed should be heavier than the lines of 
conflicting claims. 

162. Whenever a survey has been reported in error the surveyor 
who made it will be required to promptly make a thorough examina¬ 
tion upon the premises and report the result, under oath, to the sur¬ 
veyor-general’s office. In case he finds his survey in error he will 
report in detail all discrepancies with the original survey and submit 
any explanation he may have to offer as to the cause. If, on the con¬ 
trary, he should report his survey correct, a joint survey will be 
ordered to settle the differences with the surveyor who reported the 
error. A joint survey must be made within ten days after the date of 
order unless satisfactory reasons are submitted, under oath, for a 
postponement. The field work must in every sense of the term be a 
joint and not a separate survey, and the observations and measure¬ 
ments taken with the same instrument and chain, previously tested 
and agreed upon. 

163. The mineral surveyor found in error, or, if both are in error, 
the one who reported the same, will make out the field notes of the 
joint survey, which, after being duly signed and sworn to by both 
parties, must be transmitted to the surveyor-general’s office. 

164. Inasmuch as amended surveys are ordered only by special 
instructions from the General Land Office, and the conditions and 
circumstances peculiar to each separate case and the object sought by 
the required amendment, alone govern all special matters relative to 
the manner of making such survey and the form and subject-matter 
to be embraced in the field notes thereof, but few general rules appli¬ 
cable to all cases can be laid down. 

165. The amended survey must be made in strict conformity with, 
or be embraced within, the lines of the original survey. If the 


59 


amended and original surveys are identical, that fact must be clearly 
and distinctly stated in the field notes. If not identical, a bearing 
and distance must be given from each established corner of the 
amended survey to the corresponding corner of the original survey. 
The lines of the original survey, as found upon the ground, must be 
laid down upon the preliminary plat in such manner as to contrast 
and show their relation to the lines of the amended survey. 

1GG. The field notes of the amended survey must be prepared on the 
same size and form of blanks as are the field notes of the original 
survey, and the word “ amended ” must be used before the word u sur¬ 
vey ” wherever it occurs in the field notes. 

167. Mineral surveyors are required to make full examinations of 
all placer claims at the time of survey and file with the field notes a 
descriptive report, in which will be described— 

(a) The quality and composition of the soil, and the kind and 
amount of timber and other vegetation. 

(b) The locus and size of streams, and such other matter as may 
appear upon the surface of the claims. 

(c) The character and extent of all surface and underground work¬ 
ings, whether placer or lode, for mining purposes, locating and 
describing them. 

( d) The proximity of centers of trade or residence. 

( e ) The proximity of well-known systems of lode deposits or of 
individual lodes. 

(/) The use or adaptability of the claim for placer mining, and 
whether water has been brought upon it in sufficient quantity to mine 
the same, or whether it can be procured for that purpose. 

(g) What works or expenditures have been made by the claimant 
or his grantors for the development of the claim, and their situation 
and location with respect to the same as applied for. 

( h ) The true situation of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill 
sites which come to the surveyor’s knowledge, or a report by him that 
none exist on the claim, as the facts may warrant. 

(i) Said report must be made under oath and duly corroborated by 
one or more disinterested persons. 

168. The employing of claimants, their attorneys, or parties in 
interest, as assistants in making surveys of mineral claims will not be 
allowed. 

1G9. The field work must be accurately and properly performed and 
returns made in conformity with the foregoing instructions. Errors 
in the survey must be corrected at the surveyor’s own expense, and 
if the time required in the examination of the returns is increased by 
reason of neglect or carelessness, he will be required to make an addi¬ 
tional deposit for office work. He will be held to a strict account¬ 
ability for the faithful discharge of his duties, and will be required to 
observe fully the requirements and regulations in force as to making 
mineral surveys. If found incompetent as a surveyor, careless in the 
discharge of his duties, or guilty of a violation of said regulations, 
his appointment will be promptly revoked. 

S. V. Proudfit, 

Approved March 29, 1909. Actin( J Commissioner. 

R. A. Ballinger, 

Secretary, 


ADDENDA. 


DESCRIPTION OF VEIN OR LODE. 

Department of the Interior, 

Gteneral Land Office, 

W ashing ton, D. C., June II, 1909. 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices. 

Sirs: The attention of the department has been called to the last 
clause of paragraph 41 of the mining regulations, approved March 
29, 1909, which provides as follows: 

The vein or lode must be fully described, the description to include a state¬ 
ment as to the kind and character of mineral, the extent thereof, whether ore 
has been extracted and of what amount and value and such other facts as will 
support the applicants’ allegation that the claim contains a valuable mineral 
deposit. 

It seems that the expression “ the extent thereof ” is being con¬ 
strued as meaning that the applicant must affirmatively show by 
proof of exploration that the vein exists in fact throughout the whole 
length of the claim. 

This construction of the paragraph is erroneous. By the words 
quoted it was intended to require the claimant to show the existence 
of a vein in such workings as he relied on to establish a discovery. 
By the extent of the vein was meant its size and quality as disclosed. 
That being done, the presumption exists that the vein extends on its 
strike throughout the whole length of the claim as located. 

The sole purpose of that part of paragraph 41 quoted was to 
enable the land department to know, so far as applicant can reason¬ 
ably show, the definite facts upon which the right to the patent is 
predicated so as to determine whether a valuable mineral deposit 
exists in the land claimed. 

You will give this as wide publicity as possible, furnishing it to 
such newspapers in your district as may want to publish it or refer 
to it as a matter of news. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, 

C ommissioner. 

Approved, June 11, 1909. 

R. A. Ballinger, 

Secretary . 


( 60 ) 



61 


INSTRUCTIONS UNDER ACT OF JUNE 7, 1910—ADVERSE CLAIMS 
AND SUITS AGAINST MINERAL ENTRIES IN ALASKA. 

Department of the Interior, 

W asking ton, June 25, 1910. 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices , District of Alaska. 

Sirs : h our attention is directed to the act of Congress approved 
June 7, 1910 (36 Stat., 459), copy herewith, relating to the filing of 
adverse claims, and the institution of suits thereon, against mineral 
applications in the District of Alaska. 

EXTENSION OF TIME FOR FILING ADVERSE CLAIMS. 

The act provides that adverse claims may be filed at any time 
during the 60-day period of publication or within 8 months there¬ 
after. This provision applies to any application where the 60-day 
period of publication ended with, or ends after, June 7, 1910, and 
operates to enlarge by 8 months additional the time within which 
an adverse claim may be filed. This provision does not apply to 
any application under which the 60-day period of publication ended 
with, or before, June 6, 1910, for, if no adverse claim was seasonably 
filed in such case, the statutory assumption that none existed has 
arisen, upon the expiration of the publication period, in favor of 
the applicant. 

EXTENSION OF TIME WITHIN WHICH ADVERSE SUITS MAY BE 

INSTITUTED. 

It is also provided by the act that adverse suits may be instituted 
at any time within 60 days after the filing of adverse claims in 
the local land office. This provision applies to any adverse claim 
under which the 30-day period fixed under the former law for 
commencing the adverse suit was running on, or expired with, June 
7, 1910, and enlarges such time to a period of 60 days, and also 
to any adverse claim which is seasonably filed on, or after, June 7, 
1910. Such provision has no operation in a case where, under the 
former law, the 30-day period within which to institute suit on an 
adverse claim expired with, or ended before, June 6, 1910, and the 
60-day publication period also expired on, or before, June 6, 1910. 

Note.— You will exercise the greatest care in applying the pro¬ 
visions of the act. and will allow no mineral entry until after the 
expiration of the full period granted for the filing of adverse claims. 
For example, on any application under which the publication period 
ended with, or after, June 7, 1910, no entry will in any event be 
allowed until after the expiration of the eight-months period follow¬ 
ing the publication period. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, 

C ommissioner. 

Approved, June 25, 1910. 

R. A. Ballinger, 

Secretary . 


62 


[3G Stat., 459.] 

AN ACT Extending the time in which to file adverse claims and institute adverse suits 

against mineral entries in the District of Alaska. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Itnuse of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That in the District of Alaska adverse claims 
authorized and provided for in sections twenty-three hundred and twenty-five 
and twenty-three hundred and twenty-six, United States Revised Statutes, may 
he filed at any time during the sixty days period of publication or within eight 
months thereafter, and the adverse suits authorized and provided for in sec¬ 
tion twenty-three hundred and twenty-six, United States Revised Statutes, may 
be instituted at any time within sixty days after the filing of said claims in 
the local land office. 

Approved, June 7, 1910. 


INSTRUCTIONS UNDER ACTS OF JUNE 22 AND 25 1910, AND 

MARCH 3, 1909. 

Department of the Interior, 

Washington , March 6 , 1911. 

The Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

Sir: The act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), provides that the 
President may at any time in his discretion temporarily withdraw 
from settlement, location, sale, or entry any of the public lands of 
the United States, including Alaska, and reserve the same for water¬ 
power sites, irrigation, classification, or other public purposes, to be 
specified in the orders of withdrawal, such withdrawal to remain 
in force until revoked by him or by an act of Congress. 

Section 2 of the act 1 provides that lands so withdrawn shall at 
all times be open to exploration, discovery, occupancy and purchase 
under the mining laws, excepting those relating to coal, oil, gas and 
phosphates, there being a further provision, however, to the effect 
that the order of withdrawal shall not impair or affect the rights 
of any person who, prior to the date of the withdrawal, is a bona 
fde occupant or claimant of oil or gas bearing lands, and who at 
such date is in diligent prosecution of work leading to the discovery 
of oil or gas. No hard or fast rule can be established fixing the 
amount of work which must have been done by the occupant prose¬ 
cuting work leading to the discovery of oil or gas. Each case must 
rest upon its own showing of diligence when application for patent 
is filed. 

The chief of field division should be advised of all such applica¬ 
tions and should be prepared to submit showing if possible, before 
the issuance of final certificate of entry. 

This section contains further provision to the effect that there 
shall be excepted from the force and effect of any withdrawal all 
lands which are on the date of withdrawal embraced in any lawful 
homestead, or desert-land entry theretofore made or upon which any 
valid settlement has been made, and is at that time being maintained 
and perfected pursuant to law. Applications to make nonmineral 
entries by settlers claiming the benefits of the above-mentioned pro- 


1 Sec. 2 amended by act of Aug. 24, 1912, to permit exploration, location, and purchase 
of lands containing metalliferous minerals only. See pp. 64-65. 






63 


visions of section 2 will be referred to the chief of the appropriate 
field division for investigation and report before final action is taken 
thereon. 

AVithdrawals provided for under this act include those made for 
the purpose of classifying coal lands, and it seems that after the 
passage of this act the previous coal withdrawals were renewed 
thereunder. 

The act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 844), is for the protection of 
surface rights of nonmineral entrymen where the lands were sub¬ 
sequently classified, claimed, or reported as being valuable for coal, 
and the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat., 583), provides for the allow¬ 
ance of certain nonmineral entries for land having been withdrawn 
or classified as coal lands. These acts have separated the surface 
from the coal deposits for the purpose of allowance of certain non¬ 
mineral entries, and it is not believed that the act of June 25, 1910, 
under consideration was intended to repeal said acts. Therefore, 
where applications are presented to make final proof on nonmineral 
entries made prior to withdrawal, for the purposes of classifying the 
coal deposits, the disposition of such applications should be made 
with especial reference to the provisions of the act of March 3, 1909, 
supra, and as to such lands certain nonmineral entries may be allowed, 
as provided for by the act of June 22, 1910, supra, notwithstanding 
their withdrawal under act of June 25, 1910. 

Mineral aj^plications for mining claims perfected upon oil, gas, 
or phosphate lands prior to withdrawal, or for such claims upon 
lands chiefly valuable for other minerals, whether perfected before 
or after withdrawal, or for claims of the latter class within power- 
site withdrawals, and applications to submit final proof upon home¬ 
stead, desert-land, and settlement claims initiated prior to a with¬ 
drawal, will be referred to the chief of field division, with the appro¬ 
priate notation of the character of the withdrawal involved, in 
accordance with the practice under paragraphs 5, et seq., of the cir¬ 
cular of April 24, 1907, supra, for field examination and full report 
of all facts touching the character of the land and affecting the 
validity of the location, claim, or entry, as the case may be, includ¬ 
ing the possibility of water-power development, if any. 

In the administration of the act hereunder you will also be gov¬ 
erned by the circular approved January 27, 1911, relative to cooper¬ 
ation between the Geological Survey and the General Land Office. 

It is believed that the foregoing will enable you to properly advise 
the local officers in all matters necessary to put this act into opera¬ 
tion; and where an application is received not specifically provided 
for herein, you will act upon the same, affording aggrieved parties 
the usual right of appeal. 

Very respectfully, R. A. Ballinger, 

Secretary. 

[36 Stat., 847.1 

AN ACT To authorize the President of the United States to make withdrawals of public 

lands in certain cases. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the President may, at any time 
in his discretion, temporarily withdraw from settlement, location, sale, or entry 

65916°—12-5 




64 


any of the public lands of the United States including the District of Alaska, 
and reserve the same for water-power sites, irrigation, classification of lands, 
or other public purposes to he specified in the orders of withdrawals, and such 
withdrawals or reservations shall remain in force until revoked by him or by 
an act of Congress. 

Sec. 2. That all lands withdrawn under the provisions of this act shall at 
all times be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase, under 
the mining laws of the United States, so far as the same apply to minerals 
other than coal, oil, gas, and phosphates: Provided, That the rights of any per¬ 
son who, at the date of any order of withdrawal heretofore or hereafter made, 
is a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas bearing lands, and who, at 
such date, is in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery of oil or gas, 
shall not be affected or impaired by such order, so long as such occupant or 
claimant shall continue in diligent prosecution of said work: And provided 
further. That this act shall not be construed as a recognition, abridgment, or 
enlargement of any asserted rights or claims initiated upon any oil or gas bear¬ 
ing lands after any withdrawal of such lands made prior to the passage of this 
act: And provided further, That there shall be excepted from the force and 
effect of any withdrawal made under the provisions of this act all lands which 
are, on the date of such withdrawal, embraced in any lawful homestead or 
desert-land entry theretofore made, or upon which any valid settlement has 
been made and is at said date being maintained and perfected pursuant to 
law; but the terms of this proviso shall not continue to apply to any particular 
tract of land unless the entryman or settler shall continue to comply with the 
law under which the entry or settlement was made: And provided further , 
That hereafter no forest reserve shall be created, nor shall any additions be 
made to one heretofore created within the limits of the States of Oregon, Wash¬ 
ington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming, except by act of Congress. 

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall report all such withdrawals 
to Congress at the beginning of its next regular session after the date of the 
withdrawals. 

Approved, June 25, 1910. 


MODIFICATION OF OUTSTANDING ORDERS OF WITHDRAWAL. 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washington , October 21, 1912. 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices. 

Sirs: Your attention is called to the act of Congress approved 
August 24, 1912 (Public, No. 316), amending section 2 of the act 
of Congress approved June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), copy of which 
is herewith attached. 

You will note that the provision of the said act of June 25, 1910, 
that all lands withdrawn under the provisions of that act shall, at 
all times, be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase 
under the mining laws of the United States, “ so far as the same 
apply to minerals other than coal, oil, gas, and phosphates,” is 
changed by the amendment, so as to provide that such lands shall, 
at all times, be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and pur¬ 
chase under the mining laws of the United States, “ so far as the same 
apply to metalliferous minerals.” By the approval, on August 24, 
1912, of the said act, all outstanding orders of withdrawal under the 
act of June 25, 1910, were modified to conform to the act approved 
June 25, 1910, as amended by the act of August 24, 1912; and, upon 
the approval of said last-named act, the lands embraced in such orders 
of withdrawal ceased to be and are not open to exploration, discovery, 



65 


occupation, or purchase under the mining laws of the United States, 
except for metalliferous minerals. 

These instructions are in addition and supplementary to instruc¬ 
tions of March 6, 1911 (36 L. D., 544). 

You will exercise care in the enforcement of this important modi¬ 
fication of the withdrawal orders. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, * 

Commissioner. 

Approved October 21, 1912. 

Samuel Adams, 

First Assistant Secretary. 


ACT AMENDING ACT OF JUNE 25, 1910. 

[37 Stat. L., 497.] 

[S. 5679.] 

AN ACT To amend section two of an act to authorize the President of the United 
States to make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases, approved June 
twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled , That section two of 
the Act of Congress approved June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred 
and ten (Thirty-sixth Statutes at Large, page eight hundred and 
forty-seven), be, and the same hereby is, amended to read as follows: 

“ Sec. 2. That all lands withdrawn under the provisions of this 
Act shall at all times be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, 
and purchase under the mining laws of the United States, so far as 
the same apply to metalliferous minerals: Provided , That the rights 
of any person who, at the date of any order of withdrawal heretofore 
or hereafter made, is a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas 
bearing lands and who, at such date, is in the diligent prosecution of 
work leading to the discovery of oil or gas, shall not be affected or 
impaired by such order so long as such occupant or claimant shall 
continue in diligent prosecution of said work: Provided further , That 
this Act shall not be construed as a recognition, abridgment, or en¬ 
largement of any asserted rights or claims initiated upon any oil or 
gas bearing lands after any withdrawal of such lands made prior to 
June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten: And provided further , 
That there shall be excepted from the force and effect of any with¬ 
drawal made under the provisions of this Act all lands which are, 
on the date of such withdrawal, embraced in any lawful homestead 
or desert-land entry theretofore made, or upon which any valid settle¬ 
ment has been made and is at said date being maintained and per¬ 
fected pursuant to law; but the terms of this proviso shall not con¬ 
tinue to apply to any particular tract of land unless the entryman 
or settler shall continue to comply with the law under which the entry 
or settlement was made: And provided further , That hereafter no 
forest reserve shall be created, nor shall any additions be made to one 
heretofore created, within the limits of the States of California, 
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming, except 
by Act of Congress.” 

Approved, August 24, 1912. 



G6 


INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING OIL LOCATIONS MADE PRIOR TO 

MARCH 2, 1911. 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washing ton, June 15, 1911. 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices, 

and Chiefs of Field Division. 

Sirs : The Secretary in a communication to this office dated May IT, 
1911, instructed that the act of March 2, 1911 (3G Stat., 1015), should 
be brought to the attention of the local officers with the direction that, 
upon the presentation of every case within the purview of the act, 
thev shall- 

Advise the chiefs of field division, in order that the latter may make such 
field examinations as are advisable or necessary, particularly if the land in¬ 
volved has been embraced in a withdrawal, as to the time when the develop¬ 
ment work was begun, and be prepared to submit the results, if possible, before 
entry is allowed. Each such case will be considered and adjudicated upon its 
record in the regular manner. 

Observing that the operation of the act is retrospective only, being 
confined to locations made prior to the date thereof, you will, upon 
the presentation of any application for patent affected by the pro¬ 
visions of said act, immediately communicate to the proper chief of 
field division due and full information thereof, to the end that he 
may procure to be made such investigations as may be necessary to 
ascertain the facts concerning the inception and subsequent prosecu¬ 
tion of development operations, the extent and character of such 
works, and any other facts bearing upon and affecting the validity 
of the claim, including the continuousness and diligence with which 
development proceeded from the date of inception. 

Report made of the results of such examinations will be submitted 
to this office, upon receipt of which the local officers will be advised 
as to the action to be taken. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, 

G ommissioner. 

Approved, July 11, 1912. 

Samuel Adams, 

First Assistant Secretary. 


[36 Stat., 1015.] 

AN ACT To protect the locators in good faith of oil and gas lands who shall have 
effected an actual discovery of oil or gas on the public lands of the United States, 
or their successors in interest. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That in no case shall patent be 
denied to or for any lands heretofore located or claimed under the mining laws 
of the United States containing petroleum, mineral oil, or gas solely because of 
any transfer or assignment thereof or of any interest or interests therein by the 
original locator or locators, or any of them, to any qualified persons or per¬ 
son, or corporation, prior to discovery of oil or gas therein, but if such claim 
is in all other respects valid and regular, patent therefor not exceeding one 
hundred and sixty acres in any one claim shall issue to the holder or holders 
thereof, as in other cases: Provided, however, That such lands were not at 
the time of inception of development on or under such claim withdrawn from 
mineral entry. 

Approved, March 2, 1911. 



67 


AMENDMENT OF INSTRUCTIONS RELATING TO APPOINTMENTS 

OF MINERAL SURVEYORS. 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

T V ashing ton, July 7, 1911. 

The Secretary of the Interior. 

Sir: Complying with the suggestion in department letter of June 
23, 1911, addressed to United States Surveyor General, Ileno, Nev., 
copy furnished this office. I submit below proposed amendment to 
paragraph 4, page 4, Manual of Instructions for the Survey of 
Mineral Lands of the United States, approved by the department 
October 6, 1908. 

Although neither the letter to the Surveyor General nor the deci¬ 
sion, therein referred to, of the department of same date in the case 
of Mineral Surveyor Edward Nissen, 10-108782, treat directly of 
revocation of appointments, except for cause, and at the expiration 
of each four years from the date of appointment (the practice would 
make the four years commence with the acceptance of the bond by 
this office), the proposed amendment has been prepared so as to 
authorize removal at any time when a bond becomes subject to re¬ 
newal under the statute, but not, however, when only new or addi¬ 
tional surety is deemed necessary. 

I recommend that the regulation in question be so amended that, 
when amended, it will read as folloAvs: 

4. The Surveyors General have authority to suspend or revoke 
the appointments of mineral surveyors at any time, for cause, and 
to suspend or revoke the appointments at such times as the bonds 
become subject to reneAval under the act of March 2, 1895 (28 Stat., 
808), for reasons appearing sufficient to sustain a refusal to appoint 
in the first instance. The surveyors, hoAvever, will be allowed the 
right of appeal from the action of the surveyor general in the usual 
manner. The appeal must be filed with the surveyor general. who 
will at once transmit the same, with a full report, to the General 
Land Office. (20 L. D., 283.) 

Very respectfully, S. Y. Proudfit, 

Assistant C ommissioner. 

ApproA r ed, July 29, 1911. 

Samuel Adams, 

A ding Secretary. 


INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION AND DISPOSITION OF PLATS 

OF SURVEY OF MINING CLAIMS. 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washing ton, D. C ., July 29, 1911. 

United States Sura t eyors General: 

The following instructions are issued in pursuance of a plan for 
preparation and disposition of plats of survey of mining claims, 
which was approved by the First Assistant Secretary of the Interior 
June 6, 1911. 



68 


The surveyor general will prepare the original plat on form 4-G75. 
All lines clear and sharp in black. All letters and figures clear and 
sharp in black. 

The original plat, so prepared, will be signed and dated by the sur¬ 
veyor general and forwarded to the General Land Office flat or in 
tube and unmounted. 

The commissioner will have three photolithographic copies made 
upon drawing paper, which copies, with the original plat, will be for¬ 
warded to the surveyor general, the duplicate, triplicate, and quad¬ 
ruplicate to be signed by him, and the four plats to be filed and dis¬ 
posed of in the same manner as provided in paragraph 34 of the 
Mining Regulations, viz: One plat and the original field notes to be 
retained in the office of the surveyor general; one copy of the plat to 
be given the claimant for posting upon the claim; one plat and a copy 
of the field notes to be given the claimant for filing with the proper 
register, to be finally transmitted by that officer, with other papers in 
the case, to this office, and one plat to be sent by the surveyor general 
to the register of the proper land district, to be retained on his files 
for future reference. 

A certain number of photolithographic copies will be furnished the 
surveyor general for sale at a cost of 30 cents each, and a photo¬ 
lithographic copy printed on tracing paper will be furnished the sur¬ 
veyor general, from which blue prints may be made, to be sold at cost. 

Very respectfully, 

S. V. Proudfit, 

A ssistan t Commissioner. 

Approved, July 29, 1911. 

Samuel Adams, 

Acting Secretary. 


AMENDMENT OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION AND DISPO¬ 
SITION OF PLATS OF SURVEY OF MINING CLAIMS. 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washing ton, October 8, 1912. 

United States Surveyor General, 

Juneau, Alaska. 

Sir: Office circular No. 38, approved by the Acting Secretary 
July 29, 1911, entitled “Instructions for preparation and disposition 
of plats of survey of mining claims,” in so far as the same applies 
to the District of Alaska, is hereby amended by changing the fourth 
paragraph thereof to read as follows: 

The Commissioner will have three photolithographic copies made 
upon drawing paper, two copies of which, with the original plat, will 
be forwarded to the surveyor general, the duplicate and triplicate to 
be signed by him, and the three plats to be filed and disposed of as 
follows: One plat and the original field notes to be retained in the 
office of the surveyor general; one plat and a copy of the field notes 
to be given the claimant, for filing with the proper register, to be 
finally transmitted by that officer, with other papers in the case, to 



69 


this office, and one plat to be sent by the surveyor general to the 
register of the proper land district to be retained in his files for future 
reference. The Commissioner will mail one photolithographic copy 
of the plat, made upon drawing paper, direct to the applicant for 
survey, or to his agent or attorney, when the application is made by 
agent or attornev, at his record address, to be used for postinc on 
the land. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, 

Commissioner. 

Approved, October 8, 1912. 

Samuel Adams, 

First Assistant Secretary. 


PARAGRAPH 42 OP MINING REGULATIONS OF MARCH 29, 1909, 

AMENDED. 


Department or the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

I V ashing ton, January P, 1912. 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices. 

Gentlemen: Regulation No. 42 of the Mining Regulations ap¬ 
proved March 29, 1909 (37 L. D., 728-786), is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 


42. This sworn statement must be supported by a copy of each location notice, 
certified by the legal custodian of the record thereof, and also by an abstract 
of title of each claim certified by the legal custodian of the records of transfers, 
or by a duly authorized abstracter of titles. The certificate must state that 
no conveyances affecting, or purporting to affect, the title to the claim or claims 
appear of record other than those set forth. 

Outside of the District of Alaska, the application for patent will be received 
and filed if the abstract is brought down to a day reasonably near the date 
of the presentation of the application and shows full title in the applicant who 
must as soon as practicable thereafter file a supplemental abstract brought 
down so as to include the date of the filing of the application. Publication will 
not be ordered until the showing as to title is thus completed and the local 
land officers are satisfied that full title was in the applicant on the day of the 
filing of the application. 

In the District of Alaska the application for patent will be received and filed 
and the order for publication issued if the abstract showing full title in the 
applicant is brought down to a day reasonably near the date of the presentation 
of the application. A supplemental abstract of title brought down so as to 
include the date of the filing of the application must be furnished prior to the 
expiration of the 60-day period of publication. 

No certificate from an abstracter of abstract company will be accepted until 
approval by the Commissioner of the General Land Office of a favorable report 
of the chief of field division, or United States district attorney whose division 
or district embraces the lands in question, as to the reliability and responsibility 
of such abstracter or company. 

Very respectfully, Fred Dennett, 

C ommissioner. 

Approved, January 9, 1912 • 

Samuel Adams, 

Acting Secretary . 



70 


PLACER MINING CLAIMS IN ALASKA. 

Department of the Interior, 

Washing ton, October 29 , 1912. 

United States Surveyor General, and 

Registers and Receivers, 

United States Land Offices , District of Alaska. 

Gentlemen: Your attention is directed to the act of Congress ap¬ 
proved August 1, 1912 (Public, No. 230), entitled “An act to modify 
and amend the mining laws in their application to the Territory of 
Alaska, and for other purposes,” a copy of which appears below. 

It is important to note that this act applies exclusively to placer 
mining claims located in Alaska on or after August 1, 1912. It does 
not in any manner relate to lode mining claims, or to placer mining 
claims located prior to said date. The terms of the act lay strict 
limitations and conditions with respect to placer locations made upon 
or after said date. 

Section 1 of the act provides that no association placer claim shall 
be located after August 1, 1912, in excess of 40 acres. This limita¬ 
tion is positive whatever may be the number of persons associated 
together or whatever the local district rules or regulations may 
permit. 

Said section further provides that on every placer mining claim 
located in Alaska after the passage of the act, and until patent there¬ 
for has been issued, not less than $100 worth of labor must be per¬ 
formed or improvements made during each year, including the year 
of location, for each and every 20 acres or excess fraction thereof 
included in the claim. This means that the first annual expenditure 
on such a placer mining location must be accomplished for and during 
the calendar year in which the claim is located, instead of during the 
calendar year succeeding that in which the location is made. More¬ 
over, the amount of annual expenditure is dependent upon the size 
of the claim, it being required that at least $100 must be expended 
for each 20 acres, or excess fraction thereof, embraced in the location. 

By section 2 it is provided that no person, as attorney or agent for 
another, may locate any placer mining claim unless duly authorized 
by a power of attorney properly acknowledged and recorded in some 
recorder's office within the judicial division where the location is made. 
Furthermore, an authorized agent or attorney can act in making 
locations of placer mining claims for only two individual principals 
or one associate principal during any calendar month and during 
that period may not lawfully locate more than two claims for any 
one principal either individual or association. No placer claim can 
lawfully be located except in compliance with and under the limita¬ 
tions of t lie act. 

In order that the land department may be fully advised in the 
premises, the following requirements must be met with regard to 
applications for placer mining claims located in Alaska on or after 
August 1, 1912: , 

(a) Where locaticfh is made b}^ agent or attorney the power of 
attorney must be in writing and must be executed and acknowledged 
in accordance with the laws of the Territory of Alaska or of the 
State, Territory, or District in which it shall be executed. It must 
be recorded in the proper recorder’s office, as prescribed by the act. 


71 


The application for patent must be accompanied by a certified copy 
of such power of attorney which must show the recordation thereof; 
but it will be sufficient if such certified copy is attached to and made 
a part of the abstract of title. 

(b) One of the principal purposes of the act is to limit the number 
of placer mining locations made in Alaska through agents or attor¬ 
neys. An agent or attorney can not at one time represent more than 
two individuals or one association under powers of attorney. A duly 
authorized agent may make two locations for each of two individual 
principals, or for one association principal, during any calendar 
month, but he can make no further locations during that month for 
those or other principals. 

The application for patent should accordingly be accompanied 
by the sworn statement of the agent or attorney setting forth spe¬ 
cifically the names of all placer mining claims, together with the 
date of location and names of the locators, which were located or 
attempted to be located by him under powers of attorney during the 
calendar month in which the placer claim applied for was located. 

( c ) By section 3 it is prescribed that no person shall directly locate, 
or through an agent or attorney cause or procure to be located, for 
himself more than two placer mining claims in any calendar month, 
Provided , however , That one or both of such locations may be 
included in an association claim. 

Whenever a person or an association has participated in the locat¬ 
ing of placer mining claims in Alaska to the extent of two such claims 
in any calendar month, such person or such association thereby 
exhausts the right to make placer location for that month. The 
application for patent, therefore, for a placer mining claim located 
in Alaska on or after August 1, 1912, must contain or be accompanied 
by a specific statement, under oath, as to each locator who had an 
interest therein, showing specifically and in detail all placer locations 
made by him, or in which he was associated, either directly or through 
any agent or attorney, during the calendar month in which the claim 
applied for was located. If no locations in excess of those permitted 
by law were made during such calendar month a specific statement, 
under oath, to that effect, should be submitted. This showing must 
be made in addition to that hereinabove required of the agent himself. 

Section 4 of the act prohibits the patenting of any placer mining 
claim located in Alaska after the passage of the act, which contains 
a greater area than that fixed by law or which is longer than three 
times its greatest width. The surveyor general will be careful to 
observe the above requirements and will not approve any survey of 
a placer location which does not in area and dimensions conform to 
the provisions of law. 

By section 5 of the act it is declared that any placer mining claim 
attempted to be located in violation of the provisions and limitations 
of the act shall be null and void and the whole area covered by such 
attempted location may be located by any qualified person the same 
as if no such prior attempted location had been made. Consequently, 
any attempted placer location not made in conformity with the act 
is a nullity and the land covered thereby is open for and subject to 
proper location at any time. 


72 


It will be observed that the act does not affect the number of claims, 
lode or placer, and if placer whether located before or after the pas¬ 
sage of the act, which may be included in a single application pro¬ 
ceeding. 

Samuel Adams, 

First Assistant Secretary. 


[37 Stat. L. 242, 243.] 

AN ACT To modify and amend the mining laws in their application to the Territory of 

Alaska, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That no association placer mining 
claim shall hereafter be located in Alaska in excess of forty acres, and on every 
placer-mining claim hereafter located in Alaska, and until a patent has been 
issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor shall be per¬ 
formed or improvements made during each year, including the year of location, 
for each and every twenty acres or excess fraction thereof. 

Sec. 2. That no person shall hereafter locate any placer-mining claim in 
Alaska as attorney for another unless he is duly authorized thereto by a power 
of attorney in writing, duly acknowledged and recorded in any recorder’s office 
in the judicial division where the location is made. Any person so authorized 
may locate placer-mining claims for not more than two individuals or one 
association under such power of attorney, but no such agent or attorney shall 
be authorized or permitted to locate more than two placer-mining claims for 
any one principal or association during any calendar month, and no placer¬ 
mining claim shall hereafter be located in Alaska except under the limitations 
of this Act. 

Sec. 3. That no person shall hereafter locate, cause or procure to be located, 
for himself more than two placer-mining claims in any calendar month: Pro¬ 
vided, That one or both of such locations may be included in an association 
claim. 

Sec. 4. That no placer-mining claim hereafter located in Alaska shall be 
patented which shall contain a greater area than is fixed by law, nor which is 
longer than three times its greatest width. 

Sec. 5. That any placer-mining claim attempted to be located in violation of 
this Act shall be null and void, and the whole area thereof may be located by any 
qualified locator as if no such prior attempt had been made. 

Approved August 1, 1912. 


SPECIAL ACTS. 

The act of May 27, 1908 (35 Stat., 317, 365), prohibited mining 
locations thereafter within the Mount Rainier National Park, but 
prior valid existent claims were not affected. 

Sections 7, 8, and 12 of the act of May 30, 1908 (35 Stat., 558), 
provides for the extension of the mineral land laws to the classified 
surplus lands of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in the State 
of Montana. 

The act of May 11, 1910 (36 Stat., 354), provides for the estab¬ 
lishment of the Glacier National Park, in Montana, and reserves 
and withdraws from occupancy or disposal under any of the land 
laws of the United States the lands therein, but protects valid exist¬ 
ing claims and locations. 

The act of June 7, 1910 (36 Stat., 459), provides for the grant¬ 
ing of public lands to certain cities and towns in the State of Colo¬ 
rado for public park purposes and reserves to the United States the 
oil, coal, and other mineral deposits in such lands. 

The act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 848), contains provisions for 
the establishment and enforcement of miners’ labor liens in the Ter¬ 
ritory of Alaska. 




INDEX 


[Full-face figures indicate on what pages copies of laws or parts of laws may be found.] 

Page. 

Abstracters. 39 

Abstract of title, when and when not required. 39, 45 

Acts, supplemental to Revised Statutes: 

June 6 , 1874, expenditure. 10 

February 11 , 1875, expenditure. 10 

May 5, 1876, Kansas and Missouri. 11 

June 3, 1878, use of timber. 11 

January 22, 1880, application by agent; expenditure. 12 

March 3, 1881, judgment on adverse. 12 

April 26, 1882, verification of adverse by agent; proof of citizenship.... 13 

March 3, 1883, Alabama. 13 

May 17, 1884, Alaska. 13 

August 30, 1890, right of way for ditches and canals. 14 

March 3, 1891, town sites on mineral lands; reservoirs. 15 

August 4, 1892, building stone.. 16 

November 3 1893 1 • 

July 18 1894 ’ ^suspension of requirement of annual expenditure... 16 

March 2 , 1895, Wichita lands (Oklahoma). 17 

February 11 , 1897, petroleum. 19 

March 3, 1891, forest reserves. 19 

June 10, 1896, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. 18 

June 10, 1896, Blackfoot Indian Reservation. 18 

June 10, 1896, San Carlos Indian Reservation. 18 

May 14, 1898, Alaska, Canadians. 20 

June 6 , 1900, Alaska. 21 

June 6 , 1900, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache lands. 22 

January 31, 1901, saline lands. 23 

May 27, 1902, Uintah and White River Utes. 23 

February 12 , 1903, oil lands (assessment). 24 

March 3, 1903, Uncompahgre Indian Reservation. 24 

April 23, 1904, Flathead Indian Reservation. 25 

April 27, 1904, Crow Indian Reservation. 26 

December 21, 1904, Yakima Indian Reservation. 26 

March 3, 1905, Shoshone Indian Reservation. 26 

March 22, 1906, Colville Indian Reservation. 27 

June 21, 1906, Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. 27 

March 2, 1907, Alaska mining claims, labor on. 28 

Additional land districts. 9 

Adjustment of mineral claims to public surveys (see Public surveys). 5 

Adverse claims: 

Proceedings on. 4, 46 

What must be shown. 46 

Verification by agent. 13, 46 

Proof of disposition of. 47 

Judgment against both parties... 12 

Entry on judgment—evidence required. 5, 47 

Affidavits, verification of. 8,13 

Agent: 

Application for patent by. 12 

Citizenship, proof of, made by. 2 , 44, 45 

Agreement of publisher. 40 

Agricultural lands, segregation of mineral from. 9 

Alabama lands. 13 


(73) 



















































74 


Alaska lands: Page. 

Mining laws extended to. 13 

Mining rights extended to native-born Canadians under certain condi¬ 
tions . 20,51 

Divided into recording districts. 21,51 

Bering Sea, mining on shoal waters of .. 22 

Miners’ regulations in. 22 

Labor on claims in. 28 

Amended surveys (see Surveys). 58,59 

Amotmt of mineral. 39, 43 

Annual expenditure: 

Generally. 3, 10 , 12 , 16, 24, 32 

For placers. 34 

When not required. 32 

Requirement for, suspended, 1893, 1894. 16 

Coowners, forfeiture by, for failure to contribute. 3, 32 

Question as to, one solely for courts. 42 

Oil lands. 24 

Apache lands. 22 

Apex. 2,30 

Appeal from surveyor-general. 52 

Application for patent: 

Schedule of papers transmitted with. 45 

Statute. 3, 39 

Pending under former laws. 6 

Must not include land embraced in existing application, selection, or 

entry. 39 

By agent. 12 

For placer (known lode). 7, 34, 43 

Appointment of mineral surveyors. 7, 48, 52, 53 

Area: 

Placer. 6 , 34 

Mill site. 8 

Arkansas, mineral surveys in. 36 

Assignee (see Saline lands). 35 

Blackfoot lands. 18 

Blanks, not furnished. 51 

Building stone: 

Entered under placer laws. 16, 33 

Use of, for domestic purposes. 52 

Not excepted from grants to State and for schools. 16, 33 

Certificate of surveyor-general as to improvements. 4, 41, 58 

Character of land, hearings as to. 8 , 49, 50, 51 

Character of mineral. 39 

Charges and fees: 

Proof of. 7, 41 

Excessive. 49 

Paid to register and receiver. 49 

Citizenship: 

Proof of. 2 , 44, 45 

Affidavit of, before whom made. 13, 45 

Of trustee and cestui que trust. 42 

Claims located and patented prior to May 10 , 1872.. 30 

Coeur d’Alene lands. 27 

Colville lands. 27 

Comanche lands. 22 

Conflicts. 38, 39, 40, 56 

Conformity to public land surveys. 35 

Connected diagram. 37 

Connection (see Survey). 36, 55 

Contests and hearings. 8 , 41, 49 

Continuous posting. 4, 41 

Conveyance, after application. 45 

Coowners. 3, 32, 41 

Cornering locations. 32 

Corners (see Survey). 56 

Corporations. 2 , 44 

Cross veins (see Veins). 8 






























































75 


Page. 

Crow lands... 26 

Definitions: 

Of vein or lode. 1,2 

Of placer. 6 

Of mill site. 8 

Description of lode claim: 

By location notice. 1, 2, 3, 30, 31, 32 

By survey. 4, 36,37, 52, 59 

Description of placers where taken by legal subdivisions. 6, 33, 34, 35, 42 

Descriptive reports on placers. 42,59 

Dip. 2,30 

Discovery. 1,31,33 

Ditches and canals. 8, 9, 14 

Drainage. 8 

Easements. 8 

End lines. 2,30 

Entry: 

Schedule of papers transmitted with. 45 

Lode. 3,41,42 

Placer. 6, 42 

Mill site. 8,44 

On judgment roll. 5, 47 

Errors (see Survey). 58 

Excessive charges. 7, 49 

Expenditure ($500) (see Annual expenditure). 3 

Certificate of surveyor-general. 4,41 

Report of mineral surveyor. 56, 57 

Proof of, on placer by legal subdivisions.1.. 34-43 

On group of claims. 40 

In tunnel. 10 

Exploration and purchase of mineral lands. 1 

Fees of register and receiver. 49 

Field notes (see Survey). 36 

Field work (see Survey). 36, 54, 55 

Flathead lands.. 25 

Forest reserves. 19-51 

Forfeiture. 3,32 

Fort Belknap lands. 18 

Grants, mineral lands excepted from. 10 

Hearings. 8,41,49,50 

Homesteads, segregating mining claims from. 6, 9 

Improvements (see Annual expenditure; Expenditure). 3, 4,10,12,16, 24, 32, 41 

Instructions for surveys. (See Surveys.) 

Joint survey (see Survey). 58 

Judgment (see Adverse claims). 5,12, 47 

Kansas (see Mineral lands). 11 

Kiowa lands. 22 

Kind of mineral.39 

Known lodes (see Placer). 7, 34 

Laches in making entry. 42 

Land districts, establishment of. 9 

Legal subdivisions. 6, 33, 34, 35 

Length of lode claims. 1, 30 

Liens. 7 

Limitations (see Statute of limitations).. 6, 45, 46 

Location: 

Made prior to May 10, 1872. 1, 30 

Made under act May 10, 1872... 1, 2, 3, 30, 31, 32 

Marking of. 31 

Record of. 31 

Tunnel claim.„. 2,32,33 

Rights conrerred by. 2 

Locating monuments (see Survey).?. 55 

Lodes: 

Discovery... 1, 31 

Length. 1,30,31 

Width. 1,30,31 































































Lodes—Continued. Page. 

Location and record. 1, 2, 3, 31 

Entry and patent. 3, 36-42 

Lost records. 39 

Lotting (see Segregation survey). 50 

Maintenance of possession. 2, 3, 32 

Michigan (see Mineral lands). 10 

Mill sites: 

Patents for. 8, 44 

How surveyed. 44 

Price per acre. 44 

Proof of nonmineral character. 44 

Minerals enumerated. 1 

Mineral lands: 

Reserved from sale under general laws. 1 

Reservation not applicable to certain States. 10,11, 13 

Excepted from grants. 10 

Mineral monuments. 36, 55 

Mineral surveyors. 7, 48, 52, 53, 59 

Miner’s regulations. 1, 2, 3 

Mining records, proof of title when lost. 39 

Minnesota (see Mineral lands). 10 

Missouri (see Mineral lands). 11 

National forests, mineral lands within. 51 

Newspaper charges. 7,48 

Notices for publication and posting. 40 

Number of plats. 36 

Occupation and purchase. 1 

Office work. 7,48,53 

Oils (mineral), location and entry of. 19, 34 

Ore extracted, amount and value. 39 

Papers, methods of transmittal. 45 

Patent: 

Procedure to obtain— 

Lode. 3,4,5,36-42 

Placer... 6, 7, 42 

Mill sites. 8,44 

Under statute of limitations.•. 6,45, 46 

Petroleum. 19, 34 

Placers: 

Application for, showing. 42 

Timber in. 42,43 

Water courses in. 42,43 

Yield per pan or cubic yard. 43 

Bedrock, distance to. 43 

Deposit, formation and extent.-. 43 

Claim, natural features of. 43 

Definition of. 6 

Conformity and nonconformity to public survey. 6, 34 

Limitation as to area. 6, 34 

Location of. 6,34 

Subdivisions of 40-acre tracts. 6, 34 

Procedure to make entry. 6,42 

Deputy’s report on. 43,59 

Survey, when necessary, of. 6, 42 

Lode in, procedure. 7, 34 

Expenditure on. 34-43 

Price. 42 

Proof of no known veins. 34 

Plats, preparation of. 4, 36, 58, 67 

Possessory right (statute of limitations). 6, 45, 46 

Posting: 

Contents of notice. 38, 40 

On land. s . 4, 39, 40 

Proof of. 4 ? 41 

In office. 4 40 

Proof of. ’45 

Continuous, proof of... 0 „. „. 41 































































• Page. 

Preemption and homestead. 9 

Price payable on entry: 

Lode claims. 4,41 

Placer claims. 7,42 

Mill-site claims. 8,44 

Saline lands. 23,35,36 

Lode within placer. 7 

Protest: 

Alleging noncompliance with law... 4,41 

Coowner. 41 

As to character of land. 49,50, 51 

Public surveys, adjustment of mining claims with reference to. 5 

Publication: 

Requirement of. 4,40 

Proof of. 41 

Cost of..7,48,49 

Railroad selection.,. 39-49 

Register’s certificate of posting. 45 

Regulations of miners ( see Miner’s regulations). 1, 2, 3 

Relocation. 3,32 

Reservation: 

Of mineral lands. 1 

In patents. 8,14 

Forest. 19,51 

Reservoirs. 9,15 

Saline lands. 23, 35, 36 

San Carlos lands. 18 

Segregations: 

Of mineral lands from agricultural. 9 

Right to enter remaining agricultural lands. 9 

Survey, when required. 50 

Selections: 

State and railroad. 49 

Forest reserve lieu..*.. 49 

Serial numbers, entries. 45 

Shoshone lands. 26 

State (or Territory) may provide rules for working mines. 8 

States not subject to mining laws. 10,11,13 

Statute of limitations. 8,45, 46 

Subdivisions, legal, into 10-acre tracts. 6,34 

Survey: 

Statutes. 4,7 

Number of copies of plats and field notes. 36 

When to be made. 36 

Numbered progressively. 36 

Segregation diagram. 37 

Expenses of. 7,48, 53 

Appointment of mineral surveyors. 7,48,52, 53 

Charges and deposits for office work. 7,48, 53 

Charges for amended surveys. 59 

Payment of mineral surveyors. 53 

Surveyor to keep record of. 53 

Returns by surveyor. 53 

Surveyor must not act as attorney. 53 

Field work. 36,54, 55 

Connections. 36,55 

Mineral monuments. 36, 55 

Corners. 55,57 

Topographical features. 57 

Lode and mill site. 57 

Lode in placer. 57 

Conflicts. 37,56 

Areas. 37,57 

Report on expenditures. 57 

Preliminary plat. 58 

Erroneous surveys, joint. 58 





























































78 


Survey—Continued. 

Field work—Continued. 

Amended surveys. 

Report on placers. 

Surveyor, mineral. 

Sutro tunnel. 

Testimony, what should show. 

Timber, use of, for mining and domestic purposes 

Title (see Abstract of title). 

Possessory. 

Transfers subsequent to application. 

Trustee, application by. 

Town sites on mineral lands. t . 

Tunnel: 

Expenditure in. 

Grant to A. Sutro. 

Run to discover mines;. 

Uncompahgre Indian Reservation. 

Uintah and White River Ute Indians. 

Value of mineral. 

Veins (see Lodes): 

Apex, dip. 

Intersection or union of. 

Verification of affidavits. 

Water rights. 

White River Ute Indians. 

Wichita lands. 

Width of lode claims. 

Wisconsin (see Mineral lands). 

Work, resumption of. 

Yakima lands. 


Page. 

. 58,59 

59 

7,48*52,53,59 

. 9 

. 50 

. 11 

. 39,45 

.6,45,46 

. 45 

. 42 

. 15 

. 10 

. 9 

.2,32,33 

. 24 

. 23 

. 39 

. 2,30 

. 8 

. 8,12 

. 8 

. 23 

. 17 

.2,30,31 

. 10 

. 32 

. 26 





























INDEX TO ADDENDA. 


Page. 

Abstracter. 69 

Abstracts. 69 

Act# of Congress: 

May 27, 1908, locations in Mount Rainier National Park. 72 

May 30, 1908, mining laws extended to Fort Peck lands. 72 

March 3, 1909, surface rights—coal lands. 63 

May 11, 1910, locations in Glacier National Park. 72 

June 7,1910, mineral deposits in certain granted lands in Colorado reserved. 72 

June 7, 1910, adverse claims in Alaska. 62 

June 22, 1910, lands withdrawn or classified as coal. 62, 63 

June 25, 1910, withdrawals. 62, 63 

June 25, 1910, miners’ liens in Alaska. 64, 72 

March 2, 1911, oil or gas locations prior to March 2, 1911. 66 

August 1, 1912, placer claims in Alaska. 72 

August 24, 1912, exploration of withdrawn lands. 64, 65 

Adverse claims in Alaska. 61 

Alaska: 

Adverse claims in. 61 

Miners’ liens in. 72 

Placer claims in. 70 

Application. 63 

Coal lands: 

Entry of withdrawn or classified. 63 

Protection of surface rights on. 63 

Description of lode.«. 60 

Entry of withdrawn or classified coal lands. 62 

Extension of time for filing and instituting suit on adverse claims in Alaska.... 61 

Fort Peck lands. 72 

Glacier National Park. 72 

Grants for park purposes, mineral deposits reserved from. 72 

Lode, must be fully described. 60 

Metalliferous minerals. 62, 65 

Mineral surveyor, suspension or revocation of appointment. 67 

Miners’ liens in Alaska./.. 72 

Mount Rainier National Park. 72 

Oil or gas locations. 62, 63, 66 

Placer claims in Alaska. 70 

Plats, preparation and disposition of. 67 

Plats, preparation and disposition of, in Alaska. 68 

Suits on adverse claims in Alaska, extension of time for. 61 

Surface rights to coal lands. 63 

Surveyors, suspension or revocation of appointment. 67 

Suspension of mineral surveyors. 67 

Temporary withdrawals. 62 

Withdrawals. 62, 64 

Withdrawn coal lands, entry of. 63 

(79) 

. .O 

05916°—12-6 






















































































































































































